Ruby Slippers, Sapphire Stilletos & Fancy Clothes

[Baitac]

I'm sorta lucky to live in a place where there's a Sak's Off Fifth, a Neiman Marcus' Last Call, and a Bloomingdales' Outlet. This means that I can try on shoes that have been marked down. I tried on the most beautiful patent leather 4-inch Chanel sandals that were marked down from $999 to $599. They only had one pair, and they were my size. I put them on, hiked up my jeans, and walked around looking at those mirrors that only show you your shoes and ankles, you know? Then I took them off and left the store feeling like a million bucks. :)

[Angalin]

Copied over from the men's fashion thread:

I guess I shouldn't have mentioned the heels. That discussion will take longer than I have available and probably needs pictures for examples.

Here's a few suggestions from someone who has never actually worn high heels, and therefore has never had to walk in them or had my toes mangled by them, but who definitely enjoys their aesthetic effects. We all know how heels can enhance height and posture -- assuming you want your butt and breasts to stick out more. But different body types need to consider at how it affects them compared to others.

Fuller torso and thin legs don't do well with very high heels and especially not stillettos. You don't want to look like a toffee apple. In general, if you feel like steep heels are pitching your center of gravity forward, then you probably need to rein it in a little (very wide self delusion on this score).

Very tall women should not be averse to high heels unless they are also quite heavy set -- there is a difference between confident, sexy towering versus ominous looming. Mostly it's sexy towering so long as you do the confident part. It's a tragedy to see many tall women (unconsciously?) hunching their shoulders to diminish their height.

The recent style of high heel shoes which don't expose the top of the foot are challenging for women with shorter legs because they further shorten the legs. If you have shorter legs, you often (not always) have good calf curvature and therefore should wear reasonably high heels with the top of the foot exposed and the flow from calf-ankle-foot extrapolating and slimming the curve flow from lower thigh-knee-calf.

Those fully covered shoes (do they have a name?) probably work best with long, slim legs with a hem line well above the knee, where those shoes might balance out the proportions. Although, if you're starting with that combo of legs and hem, it seems like you would be shooting for open shoes to fully emphasize the legs. If you do think you look a little too much "all legs" for the setting you're in, then another alternative could be heels with a slim ankle strap (Mary Janes?) to slightly reduce the proportions but it's easier to just switch to a lower hem.

I'm not generally a fan of those fully covered shoes unless the bigger color impression is important to complement the clothes. These are some of the worst offenders when it comes to looking cute by themselvs but not helping overall proportions.

Women whose legs taper from hips to ankles in a sort-of inverted triangle, i.e. no curvature as thigh flows into knee and knee flows into calf, need to be wary of flat shoes, e.g. the gladiator abominations and even ballet slippers. The really flat heel position is unflattering. Much better to have at least a moderate heel (don't go to stillettos either which just extend and complete the inverted triangle). Hopefully walking in heels will also help to add some calf definition over time.

Since stillettos have come up twice already, they also don't work for muscular or thick-set legs, especially heavy ankles. You don't want the shoe to make the lower leg look thicker than it actually is. A wider heel or even a tapered wedge heel will probably work better. Height is still good to elongate and slim the appearance of the calf.

For all heels, be aware of how they look from all angles. Most heels look great from the front because you immediately feel taller. They look good from the side while standing still, but the side-view of walking may be terrible if you are "stilting" as you walk. Take a critical look at whether you can really walk in those heels, and look at their proportions relative to lower leg length and how much total leg length is visibly moving as you walk. If you really want height, you may need a slight platform at the toes to reduce the angle steepness to suit your stride.

Smaller feet obviously have limitations with height vs. steepness. Platforming the toe slightly can help but don't get to a point where you are over-whelming the lower leg (usually shorter lower leg with smaller feet). Smaller feet often have good arch structure and look better proportioned than larger feet, so use shoes that expose more of the inside arch of the foot and expose more toward the toes. Arched feet are sexy and enhance the curve flow from calf down through the foot.

Longer feet have more options to use very high heels, but try not to have the exposed foot look nearly as long as the shin. Mary Janes are bad here because they create a border between shin and foot and invite comparison on relative length. Instead, enjoy the height but don't expose quite so much of the top of the foot down toward the toes.

If upper legs are much heavier than lower legs (spin classes?) then it's better to match the shoe weight to the lower legs and use clothes to address the imbalance, e.g. pants or at-the-knee pencil skirts.

Speaking of pants, if wearing flared (boot cut?) pants that are cut to drape to the floor while wearing high heels, then an elongated pointed toe is probably good so that at least two inches of shoe projects beyond the front of the pants. You don't want to look like you have no feet. But that same elongated pointed toe will not look with bare lower legs unless you have heavy lower legs and short, wide feet.

Think about how you will be viewed while wearing your heels:

- e.g. standing at the bottom of a tiered lecture hall calls for medium to high heels. Too high and your breasts are pushed too far forward from the p.o.v. of audiences sitting higher than your head. But you are mostly standing or walking just a few small steps as you talk so no worries about "stilting", and the added height is usually helpful in establishing a more commanding presence in the room. Just don't fidget your stance too much as you talk.

- e.g. standing in front of a seated audience who are looking up at you: lots of height is good. Just don't overdo it so that you look precariously perched.

- e.g. if you'll be walk a lot around a large room while others are seated, you want to be especially careful of stilting. Their relatively low p.o.v. adds attention to any unfortunate proportions in your lower legs as you walk. If concerned about stilting in general, shorten the stride and learn how to glide from step to step (some women can do this, I've no idea how the biomechanics work)

- e.g. if you'll be sitting with lower legs visible, e.g. beside a podium or in a meeting room without a conference table, then decide beforehand if you will sit with an ankle cross: low to medium heels; or a knee cross: medium to high heels, but nothing chunky or heavy.

Edit to add - I started this post earlier before some conf calls and had not seen Angalin's request to relocate.

I have honestly never thought about the situations for various heels other than flat, low, medium, high. If a shoe looks good, it looks good. Certain body types can't do certain shoes but it's not a reason to throw a style out completely.

As for pushing out the breasts, uh, I have never noticed my chest sticking out more or my ass (I have no ass) sticking out more in heels. It just changes where the weight goes when I walk. If I walk on tiptoes, my tits don't look any bigger than when I'm walking flat.

PS: I wear a size 6 and I have low arches. I never wear any inner cutouts. Gladiator sandals are great because they hide the low arches. Flip flops make me look like I have paddles for feet so I need something sparkly or otherwise distracting.

[Minaku]

Oh whoops, I've already replied to Isk's reply to me in the other thread.

[Angalin]

Taken care of. :)

Good for you. Some women who carry more of their weight on their stomach and chest can look like they are fighting not to fall forward when wearing steep heels. And a large chest combined with a flat butt or a sway back (inward curve to lower spine) can give that impression even if they aren't literally tilting forward.

I wouldn't blame the heel, I would say that's a body issue, and if it's correctable, they can shift how they carry themselves and make themselves look less like they're about to tip over. But if you're at a point where you're all chest and stomach and look topheavy anyway, no shoe is going to help you.

[Guest Raidne]

I'm essentially with Mina. All of Isk's guidelines are good general starting points for shoe n00bs. Somewhat like, don't wear heels with an ankle strap if you have think ankles, unless the shoe has a t-strap, which might make your ankles look smaller. Or might not, depending on the shape of the shoe and the particular shape of your foot. Etc.

The glide is accomplished by relying on the (subtle, hopefully?) sway of the hips in a figure-8ish fashion instead of walking with leg motion only - you'll feel it in your hips, not just thighs. For me, this is best accomplished with three drinks, so not a very good strategy for work, where I'd never wear a heel over three inches anyway...(peeks in shoe drawer..)...at least not very often. Got a pair of nude platform heels and pair of pointy-toed aligator-embossed dark brown heels that I'm hurting just looking at.

I personally have the kind of legs that look much better in even a one-inch heel than flats, and better in a four-inch heel than three, but I mostly just don't give don't a fuck. My legs look better from all the walking I do - that I couldn't do in a four-inch heel - than heel height can accomplish so...? I hate being that girl out on a Friday night who can't walk anywhere over a half a mile too.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

The last pair of shoes I bought were $20 tennis shoes from Payless for kickball on a red dirt field...

Before that I bought two pairs of Johnston and Murphy brown leather shoes to wear in the office. Casual enough to work with jeans and nice enough to work with khakis. I have another pair of oxblood shoes for my suit.

... I also own a nice pair of Justin cowboy boots. Luckily I live very very near their outlet/factory store so I paid about half price.

[Angalin]

I wore my new shoes out to a friend's birthday party last weekend and they were surprisingly, and happily, walkable. While I was there, I ran into a friend from high school whom I haven't seen almost since then, and thought "wow, he's much shorter than I remember". Four inches of heel and platform and the world looks very different. ;)

[Elder Sister]

I have a pair of sequined gold Superga sneakers that are really in for fall.

I only bought them 3 years ago. Yes, I am a trendsetter. :)

[Whitestripe]

Can we talk about Wellies for a minute? It rained yesterday so every other girl on campus had Wellies on. I get that they are cute, but do you really need rubber boots just to walk across campus? I mean the construction workers also had them on, but they were outside, in the mud, all day. Are Wellies that popular everywhere?

[Elder Sister]

Can we talk about Wellies for a minute? It rained yesterday so every other girl on campus had Wellies on. I get that they are cute, but do you really need rubber boots just to walk across campus? I mean the construction workers also had them on, but they were outside, in the mud, all day. Are Wellies that popular everywhere?

I read your post and was thinking, "Wow. I thought Skunkbelly was older than that. I thought she was closer to my age. She sounds very mature for a college kid."

Then I realized by the end of your post that you must, in fact, be a grown-ass woman, as I am. :D

I noticed about 3-4 years ago that all of the teenagers/college girls were wearing them, even with shorts. They are typically patterned and brightly colored. They look silly honestly, but I certainly fell prey to all sorts of fads back in the day. (Ahem. giant hair, acid washed jeans, and leg warmers. WTH?)

[lady narcissa]

I started noticing the students in my law classes started wearing wellies about 5 years ago. At first I thought it was funny because my only other exposure to Hunter boots prior to this was on my friend's farm in England. But in the end even I ended up getting a pair because they are useful on super rainy days or snowy days when I'm walking to work. The trend is still going strong here.

[Gillio]

I bought some wellies this winter for dog walking, first winter I've had dry feet!!

[Whitestripe]

Elder Sister: I am, in fact, a grown-ass woman. Gainfully employed at said college.

I still don't get the wellies. Snow boots, yes. 'Cause there is like 15 feet of snow here every winter.

[Elder Sister]

Elder Sister: I am, in fact, a grown-ass woman. Gainfully employed at said college.

I still don't get the wellies. Snow boots, yes. 'Cause there is like 15 feet of snow here every winter.

Yeah, I'm sorry - I didn't figure that out 'til the end of your post. :) I don't get them either. I actually like the wellies that are green and black and look like real wellingtons.

[Ser Pate]

Recently bought these shoes from Witchery [Australian shop] for $55, down from $150. I wore them to a job interview at a magazine this morning and completely regret it! Instant blisters across both heels. Now there's a wound on my right foot the size of a 10c coin and a pair of really pretty shoes that I'm reluctant to wear again.

[Guest Raidne]

Can we talk about Wellies for a minute? It rained yesterday so every other girl on campus had Wellies on. I get that they are cute, but do you really need rubber boots just to walk across campus? I mean the construction workers also had them on, but they were outside, in the mud, all day. Are Wellies that popular everywhere?

I bought wellies after ruining my favorite black flats. Even if you have an umbrella, half a mile in a driving rainstorm is enough to finish off your shoes. Plus, stepping in a puddle of gods only knows what on any urban street is fucking disgusting without them. But I'm realizing now that I need a second pair of Wellies. I don't want to wear them into work if it's not going to rain until the afternoon and vice versa. So I need a pair for home and a pair for the office.

[Yagathai]

Doc Martens makes a vulcanised rubber version of their classic black boot that, while not technically a wellie, does a great job of keeping the water out. It runs very small, though, so I'd order a size up.

[Call me Odie]

Can we talk about Wellies for a minute? It rained yesterday so every other girl on campus had Wellies on. I get that they are cute, but do you really need rubber boots just to walk across campus? I mean the construction workers also had them on, but they were outside, in the mud, all day. Are Wellies that popular everywhere?

Yes they are and I think it looks kind of stupid to wear them around town or on campus. What are the next steps? Workwear to change the light bulb? Full chef uniforms to boil an egg?

[Guest Raidne]

Yes they are and I think it looks kind of stupid to wear them around town or on campus. What are the next steps? Workwear to change the light bulb? Full chef uniforms to boil an egg?

What do you put on your feet when you have to walk a mile in a driving rainstorm?

[Angalin]

Recently bought these shoes from Witchery [Australian shop] for $55, down from $150. I wore them to a job interview at a magazine this morning and completely regret it! Instant blisters across both heels. Now there's a wound on my right foot the size of a 10c coin and a pair of really pretty shoes that I'm reluctant to wear again.

They look very nice, but like they could dig in at the top of your heel. Is that what happened? :(

I bought wellies after ruining my favorite black flats. Even if you have an umbrella, half a mile in a driving rainstorm is enough to finish off your shoes. Plus, stepping in a puddle of gods only knows what on any urban street is fucking disgusting without them. But I'm realizing now that I need a second pair of Wellies. I don't want to wear them into work if it's not going to rain until the afternoon and vice versa. So I need a pair for home and a pair for the office.

Do they have to be knee-high wellies? There are lower heights of rain boot around, though the taller ones are easier to find liners for if it's cold out. Yags' suggestion of a made-over Doc is good. (Yags, I can't remember if I thanked you for the suede care advice - thank you! :) )