Shyheels

NK isn't really going to do any such thing. Their fearless leader enjoys being on the world stage and imagining himself to be a superpower.

I get all that but four inches is a lot of heel to try to hide. I really don't think it would be possible.

Lordy!

Not a bad idea...

She has done very well indeed. But again, I think not tucking in the shirt, as a minor concession, would have been better

He'll never resign. I expect he will be impeached. The FBI investigation is no joking matter and I think he'll find himself in some serious legal/political hot water if he is not careful - although I suspect he's street smart enough to keep himself out of jail. His aides and son-in-law might not be so lucky, though. I do think he will be impeached. And I think that could create problems. As for Trump starting wars, launching nukes...he really can't. He has, in a way, made himself irrelevant. The government and military and the constitution itself would not allow it.

He is objectionable on many grounds. I've lost count of them. The president of the US is indeed a very powerful individual, but the US constitution has seen to it that the president does not have unfettered power, although Trump seems to believe that it does. In this he is wrong and is finding these things out the hard way and getting grumpier by the day about it. If you'll note, Trump has not passed a single (major) piece of legislation since he became president (most of what he has passed has been things like bills to rename various Federal buildings etc) Nor can he declare war without the approval of congress.

Yes, I get that part - I've got a dodgy back myself and discovered that the 7cm heels on one of my pairs of boots relieves this stress quite a bit and so fully understand Russ's viewpoint and sympathise with him. But the concealing of the heels - or lifts - within a shoe or boot would by nature make it rather clunky and you would lose the visual appeal of heels. It's like peep toes boots - I just don't get it.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was impeached. Indeed I'll be surprised if he's not. He seems to have no concept of ethics, the law, or the dignity of his office. I would be stunned - and sickened - if anything physical happened to him, though. Won't happen.

I don't understand the point of hidden heels. Isn't the point of wearing heels - or one of the big points - the visual appeal of high heeled boots?

I think tucking in the shirt is what spoils the effect of the trousers. Had she a looser more flowing top the overall effect would have been much better, a counterpoint to the harder look of the leather trousers.

That's true, with the face looking away it would be hard for anyone to recognise her

I have heard of her, but not being British and raised on your TV shows, I'd never have known her. I am sure I must have seen her picture at some point, but it never registered sufficiently that I could recognise it at random like this. She certainly has a good figure for 56 in which case I modify my comments about the leather trousers - she does look good in them. Still can't go with peep toed boots, but there again brave and confident of her to wear them.

I tend to agree with Puffer. Not flattering and for the life of me I can see no sense to open-toed boots.

I buried my sense of embarrassment. The way we all bury those moments we hate to look back upon, when we've done something artless, boorish, mistimed, miscued, or just plain embarrassing. Yes, fortune can sometimes favour us in strange ways. I recall a stockbroker in Sydney thirty years ago, after the market crashed in '87, saying how glad he was that he'd been in the hospital having a brain tumour removed - otherwise he would have been out there buying into a bear market! I guess that is truly finding a silver lining!

Yes, but if you don't give these things much thought it is hardly a fixation. Not really a workaround as a mature realisation that if I feel like wearing a pair of otk boots, it is really no big deal. And having made that realisation, and acted upon it, I have become quite laid back and matter of fact about it all. They actually do not seem much different - or really any different - than any other bit of footwear. It might if I was actually wearing go-go boots or heels, but my tall boots are really quite conservative, nothing overtly feminine - in fact, more masculine than not. I find myself wondering what all the fuss was about. In terms of drivers it doesn't have to be physical needs - ambition, jealousy, aspirations, ego, pride...etc.

I was living at the time in the suburbs of a very large American city. A very middle class suburb, American as apple pie.

Ah, yes, but you see, if was not a fixation. Never was. For a while in eighth grade I was certainly fixated on this girl, and yes, I liked the boots she wore, but the fixation was on the girl - most especially her red hair, which I thought was very pretty - not the boots. I liked them, sure, thought they looked good on her, and enhanced her saucy confident appeal, and would have liked to have a pair myself, but they were an accessory. I was embarrassed to find that the boots I was fancying were strictly for girls, and so dropped like a hot potato the idea that I would ever own or wear a pair myself. I felt silly for not reading the situations styles and mores better than I did. But I never fixated on boots or, really, fetishised anything else in the sort of way you are thinking. Indeed the only time I thought about wearing tall boots was in the autumn when the fall fashions came out and I would see ads or display windows and be reminded that I liked tall boots and wished it were okay for me to have and wear them too. Otherwise, for all the rest of the year, I never really gave them a thought. I think people give too much credit to sex as a driving force.

It has been nearly fifty years, but I am virtually positive the first time I ever saw go-go boots was on that girl. No recollection whatever of ever having seen them before. Nor can I recall if they had heels or not, so it certainly wasn't heels that attracted me or made me notice them. I realise that most people would assume that this must have its roots in the male libido, but in my case they would be shallow roots if they exist at all.

There have been some really quite stunning images on this thread of styles and fashions from the Golden Age

Interesting thoughts re: pretty red-haired girl in go-go boots. I think it was a combination of things - firstly I really liked the look and sleekness of the boots; they were visually appealing to me. On another level I coveted the 'out there' sauciness and self-confidence they suggested, and which she possessed, and which I wished to possess too. The fact that she was pretty and wore them certainly lent them cachet and glamour in my eyes, but I honesty believe my liking those boots, and desiring a pair myself, existed over and above and outside my fancying the girl. Because the two - boots and girl - existed together it becomes hard to unravel the thought processes and feelings, but I believe they were separate in my mind, even then. I think because there is also a sexiness in the mix, it becomes to easy to put it all down to that. Boots never became a fetish with me, but I always have liked the look and style of tall fashion boots. As to the barely there styles - they don't do much for me either.

Indeed! Although I hardly ever get to see movies unless I am on a plane. That will be something to look forward to, liven up a long flight!

That's the one!

Manolo Blahnik revived the stiletto around 1974 after it had called from fashion during the mid 60s. It was Roger Vivier who created the first true modern stiletto in 1954. It has ebbed and flowed a lot in the past 60-odd years. According to an article I saw in the Guardian the other day, stilettos are coming back in a big way now.

I suspect you are correct. Certainly the late 60s and early 70s were very fluid and groundbreaking in terms of fashion, style and colours. I was certainly into flares, Jesus shirts, paisley and bandanas although I never wore platforms. Then, as now, I thought they were clumpy and disliked them. I do not really recall much about heels. What I do remember from that era, and which caught my eye at the time were girls in white go-go boots. For the life of me I can't recall if they had heels or not. I think they were just low 'normal' heels. I recall a very pretty red haired girl in my eighth grade class who wore go-go boots nearly every day, as did a couple of her friends. But her I remember in particular. I thought she was very pretty. And she was certainly very nice. I liked her boots very much too - and I wished I could have a pair just like them This may sound odd, but I was a daydreamy kid with my head in the clouds and in those fairly unisex days I did not grasp straight away that these boots were strictly girls only - I mean, I knew that girls wore them, and I hadn't seen any on guys, but I did not grasp the strength of the taboo, not straight away at any rate, and so I very nearly came out asked for a pair for myself! Something or somebody clued me in - I forget what or how - and I was mortified to find I had been fancying boots that were strictly for girls. I felt as alarmed and embarrassed as if I had been inadvertently wanting to wear a dress. Indeed I was so mortified that I buried this new discovered and unnerving partiality for what society deems to be "feminine" boots for decades. In that time my tastes evolved away from go-go boots to more elegant knee and otk suede boots, riding style, no heels to speak of. It was not an obsession, but when the autumn styles would come out and tall boots would feature once more in display windows and advertisements I would give a sigh and wish that it were possible for men to adopt the style.