To wear heels or not to wear heels...
Like many other tall women I know, I have avoided wearing heels as much as possible…even when it has meant a few pairs of very UGLY shoes. Ok, maybe more than a few pairs. I’ve also had the experience of feeling bold in the shoe store and buying heels or just higher shoes. But inevitably, I’ll wear them around my house right until I’m about to go out the door and I’ll take them off and slip on some flats. I’ve given away brand new shoes because I can’t seem to get myself out the door in them.
I have a pair of black kitten heels that I’ve worn to an embarrassing point of near destruction. This summer I found a replacement pair with a bit of a bigger heel at Winners and went on a rampage to a many, many Winners stores to find them in my size. I wore them to a wedding (very proudly) and actually have told a number of my friends that I HAVE HEELS! Still… on a number of recent locations my destroyed old shoes have been worn at the last minute rather than the new slightly higher heels. I’m going to wear them out again and write a blog about it sometime in the next couple weeks.
Last week I was flipping channels and stopped to watch a bit of The View (almost as embarrassing as my shoes). The ladies were having an intensive conversation about Carla Bruni wearing flats to an important function. Apparently, since Carla married Nicolas Sarkozy, she’s been spotted in flats nonstop because she is the taller of the two. Why is this news?? I decided to google Carla Bruni and flats and found a number of sites also talking about Carla’s shoes:
“You’ve probably noticed she’s switched out her platforms for flats; but that doesn’t mean Carla’s compromised her style.” http://fabsugar.com/slideshow/1509095
“On Thursday, Bruni-Sarkozy wore a gray trouser suit and a double-breasted purple knee-length coat — and, as she has throughout the trip, flat shoes. Bruni-Sarkozy, at 5 foot 9, is several inches taller than her husband.” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342670,00.html
“Notice CARLA wears blue ballerina flats, flats have been a staple footwear for the 5 foot, 9 inch brunette beauty, since NICOLAS is only 5 foot, 5 inches. Wonder if CARLA is doing that for NICOLAS, or maybe she has been told to…” http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/6NhBfn1a6LY/French+President+NICOLAS+SARKOZY+Wife+CARLA
“Ms Bruni-Sarkozy has eclipsed her husband, in more ways than one, during their whistle-stop tour. His heels may also have overshadowed the politics.” (This is a caption to a photo of the couple’s feet – she is in flats, he is in heels. See the blog photo.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7316345.stm
“A picture of elegance. But again, conscious of her Amazonian stature, Ms Bruni-Sarkozy finished off her floorlength, blue silk gown with a pair of flats.” (I HATE the reference to Amazonian… this is on the BBC!) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7316345.stm
I say wear what you like and are comfortable in, but I also think when you are tall you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone a little. For us, this means sticking out even more than we normally do, so shorter friends, please understand why we often stick to flats.
In Carla’s case it looks like we’re also getting into a whole other issue… when the man is shorter than the woman in a relationship. There is lots to say on this, so I’ll save it for my next blog post.
[...] who are much shorter than I am. But last night I broke out the heels I mentioned a few posts ago (http://tallorder.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/heels-vs-flats/). Admittedly, women who wear heels all the time probably wouldn’t think mine were all that high [...]
My response got mangled up..
I don’t like the pain from high heels. Moderate heels are OK, but there aren’t many that feel as good as my running shoes or flip flops.
I do have to wear good shoes for business situations and the best looking ones have a bit of a heel – maybe four or five cm. That takes me up to about 195cm. I try to have great posture all the time because a tall woman with bad posture looks terrible.
Heels are something where I think there is a difference between women who are a bit tall and those who are very tall. If you are used to being about the height of a guy and suddenly are more, it changes your perspective. If you are always taller, a bit more does make much of a difference.
I have worn taller heels and am not bothered by the height at all. Pain and stability is the issue. For me the tall shoes also change the way I walk and I prefer my normal walk, which is more confident and athletic.
An issue on the taller side is hitting your head. There is a low doorway in my apartment and I hit my head even with the smaller heels. The covered entranceway to a friend’s apartment is also very dangerous.
[...] Saturday night I put on my heels that I mentioned in my Heels vs. Flats post (I wore the embarassingly destroyed pair out on halloween). So I was about 2 inches taller than [...]