I'm not much of an expert in men's fashion with heels but on my main site interactive discussion forum, there are one or two pointers, and some guys have told me
what they wear for this look by email. Or you could check out my message board here or the one at Yahoo! for ideas. If anyone has some more tips, then email firefox here
Boot cut (Boot leg) trousers seem popular. Also,
ones that are cut slightly longer that will cover the top bit of
the heels so they won't appear too obvious. Once you get confident with it, you may want to let all the heel show for a nicer look. One of my correspondants,
Chuck, writes further about the length of the trousers, for the more timid. He says that maybe only 1" of heel should show when standing and 2" when walking. Again, it's a question of toning down the appearance of the heels as against the asthetics of the look. For women's fashion, I would give the opposite advice - to let all of the heel show when wearing trousers. In general, most of my fashion examples on this site will probably have slacks on the high side according to Chuck's 1" & 2" rule, but that is just to show the style of the heels, and you may decide to be less ostentatious with this look.
Bear in mind that it does require thinking about carefully though - many fellows I am sure are just used to buying trousers their size and not worrying too much, but you are going to have to think quite carefully about the cut and the length. Make sure you try the trousers with the type of shoes you intend to wear as well, and maybe get a girlfriend to check it out, or look critically in a mirror yourself. You may have to buy women's trousers to get the right cut - tightish, but with a slight flare at the bottom. I would go for black, or a dark colour.
What you wear on top depends on your age and the image that you
are trying to present of course. I think some kind of jacket would
be essential. A generously cut normal suit type jacket with open
neck shirt would be one look. Or a more trendy type of look might
be a longer more flowing type of jacket - or why not try with a
trench coat. Maybe a woman's longish cardigan/wrap around jacket - why not, its not full TV, just "adaptation" - or you could have a look at some Gothic fashion and borrow ideas from them.
Again, for the jacket/coat I would for dark, sombre colours. Blacks,
dark grey, dark purple, navy. Presumably you would like to present a powerful
heterosexual image (if you are not doing TV stuff (BTW - I know most TV's are het, but you know what I mean!) so anything light, flowery
or frilly is no good. Presumbly you want to make a fashion statement
but not attract too much attention. I think you need to be ultra
smart and pretty confident with this look.
Now to the really important bit - those prize shoozies. In general I would say "not stilettos". In general I would say "not higher" than 3" or 4". In general I would say "not plats". Plats detract from the feel of the heel and you are unlikely to want the extra height anyway. The idea is presumably to get the feel and pleasure of heels without being too obvious about it, at least not until (or indeed if ever) this practice becomes more widely accepted. A block heel or high stacked cowboy type shoes are ideal. Some guys tell me they do 21/2" heel with 11/2" lift inside to get 4" without being too obvious.
If you have followed my advice about build or body height, you will likely have EUR size 39-42 feet (USA 8-10), so can borrow/buy suitable women's shoes. If your feet are a bit bigger then get a shoemaker to modify one of your pairs by adding an inch or two or three to the heel. For a big change in height, he might have to add a metal shank and alter the vamp - it could be better to go for scratch custom build. Or you might look in outfitters that cater for black Ladies (US only). I dont live in US, but someone told me African ladies in general have larger feet and these stores often carry some larger sizes to cater for them.
You could do stilettos or more than 4", but you are liable to attract a lot of attention because of the altered walk and I think you would have to be very slim and/or goodlooking and/or confident about yourself to carry it off. Believe me, women face the same type of problems, albeit to a sightly lesser extent. Many is the time a woman has looked longingly at a really tall pair of stilettos, soul-searching herself if she is pretty enough, or slim enough, to wear them without people having a little bit of a laugh at her on the side. Many is the time too, and maybe with a tear, they've been shoved back in the cupboard in favour of something which really does suit her better. Sure, if you are confident and thick skinned, you can go for it anyway, and brave people's sneers, but most of us like to be "accepted" at least to some degree.
The style could be cowboys, buckles, boots, or Oxfords. Again, "no good" are pumps and open toe sandals though more or less closed mule ("slide"-US) style may be acceptable. If your idea is to get the height in a reasonably smart masculine look then you'll follow this advice. If the idea is to attract a lot of atttention and have people pointing. laughing and ridiculing you then go ahead and wear some spindley spikey sandals with half mast trousers. Dont be "extreme" and you'll be OK - you can still justify it as a masculine look. If you really yearn after the feminine type shoes then you'd better take some lessons on doing TV/CD stuff. I'm certainly not condemning it - have a go if you want, but there are plenty of other websites and material catering for that, so it's not the intention to cover it here.
As for shoe colour, black, dark brown, dark grey, or bulls blood red. Especially black. Boring isn't it? But it's the same theme of changing just a little detail so as not to draw too much attention. Those are typical male shoe colours so it's best to conform to public perceptions as far as possible in other respects.
I get so many questions on this and dont really feel qualified to
answer any of them! Anyway, good luck with it and hope this site helped. Dont forget to
email firefox if you have any other ideas.
Firefox writes: Some excellent tips. During our time on the web many people have also talked about their own experiences and given other good advice. If you want to see another point of view, click here for JeffB's advice. JeffB is 6'2" and from the USA. JeffB's Guide to Heels at Work
Further Links
Visit The High Heels
Top 50 Sites Index
Men wearing high heels as men
Well folks, you're looking at the only site I know of on the web that gives you the info on this, so pat yourself on the back for finding it and I won't bother linking myself in!
Yahoo! Men in High Heels Club Not a website as such and I think you have to register for this message board type affair. As its not my thing, I never bothered, but you can get a preview by using this back door CGI entry URL I picked up from my website refer stats - sneaky huh :-)? This URL may not work for you if you aren't registered at Yahoo! for chat or email - their cookie system seems quite complicated. Just goes to show though, you can go most places on the web if you know one or two thingies.
Hiluc's World of Heels Hiluc is a contributor to my site and he also has set up an excellent site of his own where you can read about his shoe collection, style, and life story. You'll see many of the things I put forward as ideas are borne out by his true life experience. Do pay him a visit!
Dale Miller's Pages Dale defies all attempts to categorise him! He wears skirts and stilettos with jacket and tie on top. One has to admire his courage for creating a completetly individual look and he does it very smartly as well, although it is not to everone's taste.
Alternative Men's Fashion Richie from London is developing a promising site with pictures, info and survey's like this one. Great job Richie! FF
Francis' High Heel Pages Fellow Englishman gives many interesting views on heels with photographs and more on this developing website.FF
Heeling's Page Nice little German page not specifically about men in heels, but the author has a good selection of pictures of his own heels, many of which are nice fashion ideas for guys. He has also drawn pictures and shows some of his colourful and original artwork - worth checking out.
Risto's Page Finnish page about cowboy boots and other things that I wont go into! :-) Some of the cowboy boots are really beautiful though and if you like these kind of boots or just artistic shoes, this site is a must.
Joak's Page Nice page with great shoe pictures and regular updates. Joak is another guy who wears heels in public, and I'm sure you'll get some ideas if you pay him a visit.
Shockqueen's Page There's not so much about heels, but Shockqeen from Colorado looks at many issues, giving examples of alternative dressing styles. Also a collection of his artwork. He appears to like the gothic style too, so that can't be bad! FF
Male High Heels at Delphi Forums Another egroup which shares some members with us. Pay them a visit and tell them to give us a link back. FF
Shoe Collectors Bulletin Board Typical clandestine little group, many of whom seem to wear heels themselves, but again a lot of closet wearers. Gee I wish these guys would join the fray in public. FF
Bertulli Shoes The site is in German, but there is a link to an UK distributor, Shirlina, who provides information in English. It's all about Men's shoes with invisible heel lifts which increase your height up to 4 inches taller. If you want the height or the feeling without anyone knowing, then these could be for you. Personally, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. They look just as boring as normal men's shoes and part of the attraction for me of proper heels is the different designs and fashion possibilities. Still, if you are really shy... FF
Western Shoes and Accessories Charlie told me of these suppliers of Western style footwear including platforms and styles specially for men, some 3" or so. Not exactly cheap but made to order and good quality. FF
Women wearing high heels as women
Jenny's High Stiletto Heels Page My other site. It's big, it's colourful, there's loads of info and piccies, and it gets the top positions on those "top-site" indexes. But I would say that, wouldn't I?...I suppose, cos it's my site! However, visit it and judge for yourself - there is a plenty of relevant information for guys as well.
PGTS High Heels Links Page PGTS page has lots of links to mainly female shoe site galleries, but also some CD things, and great links to shoe sellers, if some of you need larger sizes. I am sure most of you know this page anyway - but just in case....!
Tacchi A Spillo An Italian site about stiletto heel wearing techniques and fashion for women. Webmistress Morgana does have a section "For the Men" but its more along the lines of "Well, heels aren't really meant for guys but here's how you can be supportive of your girlfriend when she wears them".
Andrew's High Heels Page Andrew has collected some nice resources and tips. Being a a bit of a boot person - he has been known to wear heeled boots in male mode himself the odd occasion, and I bet he looks great.
Creating the high heeled Woman Part of a BDSM outlook, and not really mainstream fashion, but useful tips nevertheless. Check out the "arched cowboy boot"- a copy of their drawing of which is reproduced in reduced form on the right. The fullsize original is their copyright and can be found by linking above. Devious eh guys?! I am sure you fellows could knock up something like that on a rainy night!
Men wearing high heels as women
Absolutely oodles of tranny sites and things. I dont really know where they are specifically, but have seen a fair few on my travels around the web looking at shoes and fashion. You can always try a search engine.
Women wearing high heels as men
Hmmm - a strange concept this one, which I included more for completeness than anything else! I doubt there will be ever any sites on this but you never know. I suppose a lez or TG woman wanting to go for a butch look while still wearing heels could follow much of the advice on this page.
Top of page
