Are high heels becoming obsolete?

[SlipperOrchid]

I rarely wear anything except flats anymore. It wasn't intentional, simply practical footwear for chasing young children around.

However, more often than not, if I was going out for the evening, I wore mid heels as I felt more 'dressed up' in them. My heels were neither comfortable nor uncomfortable although if I had to choose, I will say the latter as when I got home I kicked them off

My social life has changed from late nigh bars to restaurants and putting on heels to go and sit down with my feet under a table seems bordering on insanity.

Trainers are now more popular than ever. I have over ten pairs and wear them daily apart wearing flat boots when it rains (like today!).

I follow En Brogue and she never wears heels and although I know this started for medical reasons, her choice of flat shoes makes perfect sense for everyone.

At the weekend, I had a great seat by an upstairs window in a coffee shop in a capital city where I spent over an hour people watching. Everyone was wearing flat shoes or trainers. I saw one woman who clumped around rather ungracefully in heeled boots and she stood out quite a lot.

Afterwards | went shoe shopping (for a pair of loafers in Aldo) and noticed for the first time that the section for 'high heels' was tiny.
Am I simply totally unstylish these days? Do many of you still wear heels? Or have heels had their day?

I should add that I under 5ft 3" and always liked feeling taller in heels :).

When I was a young twenty something there was quite a strict policy on footwear in nightclubs. Trainers would not have been allowed in any circumstance. In some places jeans were not allowed either. Then Victoria Beckham came along with a number of other high end jeans manufacturers that were priced so high, it would have been ludicrous to say they were not ‘dressy’ enough. I’m in my mid forties and remembering that makes me feel very old 😀 Trainers are now perfectly acceptable in most places other than traditional type offices?

Im almost always in heels. I'm 5'2 and look very young (not stealth boast I hate it!!). I wear ugly sensible heels at work because I think they make me come across as a bit older, and they make me feel more confident. They're very comfy though.

If I'm going out in the day I wear heeled boots. If I'm going out in the evening I wear chunky heels. I've got a couple of pairs of high heels that I've worn for special occasions. I even wore low heels/heeled boots to raves and festivals.

I do love the trainers look but when I wear trainers I feel scruffy and look like a teenager.

Also at the raves/festivals people did look at me like and asked if my feet don't hurt, so maybe I looked a bit silly but I can't stand my legs in flats.

I wish I looked like a teenager in my perpetual trainers and flats. But at 65 that would be a miracle!

I couldn't wear any sort of heel now, as I have got problems with my feet. I hadn't worn heels for a long time anyway, because of my lifestyle, but I really miss those days. So, my advice would be to wear them while you can! I don't mean skyscrapers, just a nice pair on an evening out. I used to wear heels just running around town. Did have the odd, stuck in the pavement moment though 😚

There are a lot of strappy and sandal type heels about online which I think will probably make a more popular choice for summer nights out than trainers? I don’t think heels on a night out are totally obsolete.

I wear 4 inch heels pretty much every day. Black block heel round toe boots with jeans in winter and block heeled open toe platform sandals with dresses in summer. (I pretty much have a uniform

I can walk for miles and run in block heels with no problem. I don’t find ballerina slippers or trendy trainers comfortable, they rub my feet and pointy toe shoes kill me so I don’t wear them unless it’s a proper posh do where I’ve got a car there and back and there’s no dancing!

I went shopping for heels for a wedding at the weekend and there was definitely way less variety available that previously and a lot more flats.

So any woman who wears a heel is trying to hard, looks dated and is over 50? Interesting . No, heels will never go out of fashion, current fashion leaders wear them a lot you only have to look at the beauties Meghan Markle wears, they make a beautiful outfit look so elegant, I really don’t think ballet flats would have the same effect.

I love this look.

Hang on I thought all women over 50 were wearing Hotters?

I tend to only wear heels at weddings nowadays. Nights out I wear ballet flats.

At work I wear loafers - I work in a very corporate environment and I reckon it's about 50/50 between high heels and flat shoes

The rest of us can’t really compare ourselves to MM unfortunately 😀 Not helped by the rest of us having to walk, use public transport, work.....

It’s funny how the aesthetic has shifted. I instinctively react now to a woman in high heels much as if react to a woman in restrictive corsetry. “Why are you wearing that? Weird” sort of thing.
It’s a step forward for health and well being (fnar fnar)

I’m not saying though that flat shoes are not practical, of course they are, but sometimes certain clothes look better with a heel, some of us are very capable of walking in heels, hell I can run in them no problem! I love how I feel when I wear a heel, I’m 5ft 9 so I tower over everyone!

I wear trainers and flat boots with jeans but love to wear skirts and dresses which I definitely need a heel for as I don’t like my legs in flats. Heeled ankle boots hide the slimmest part of my calf, however recently I’ve been looking at my heeled shoes and thinking they look a big dated.

This over 50 woman wouldn’t be seen dead in Hotters.

That's exactly my reaction to that photo of MM, I don't see elegant I see bad for your feet/posture and restrictive.

I don't think heels are dated!

I'm early 20s and most of my friends would wear them for nights out etc, never for work though. There are lots of people in heels, as well as trainers. Not necessarily stilettos but more mid heels

Lots of the early 20s Instagram fashion people are always in heels.

I love my heels, I have really chubby ankles and look like a toddler in trainers on a night out. I really hate ballet flats, if anything I would say ballet flats are dated? And I wear trainers everyday and get bored of them, I think heels give a cleaner line if I'm dressing up a bit.

That was to Fishface BTW.

i think the traditional stiletto does look very dated and, strangely, frumpy, but there are more distinctive options which are still ok.

Y Y expletive. Also, she seems to have kept wearing them while heavily pg, the loony.

You are right Blue, when celebs are dressed up many will be wearing a heel, because it suits the outfit they are wearing and it completes the look, just like some outfits look better with flats.

If I'm not wearing trainers, then my daily footwear is usually ankle boots with a 3" chunky heel, but for a night out, you'll have to prize my 6" stilettos off my cold dead feet!

I'm 23 and heels are definitely still very popular amongst my age group. For nights out it depends on the type of club you go to, trashy club, you wear trainers (like ADIDAS gazelles or stan smiths). To a nice club/bar/restaurant you may wear heels (ranging from low to high, boots to sandals and skinny to chunky heels).