Shyheels

Yes, she has come good in the top job Here she is meeting the Queen in otk boots: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/04/2648E28300000578-2978868-A_creak_of_leather_as_the_Home_Secretary_dips_her_knees_to_curts-a-41_1425465495993.jpg

She does indeed look smarter than her contemporaries - which no doubt has a lot to do with why she was in American Vogue. She has style and does not let her age interfere with it, but at the same time doesn't pretend she's a thirty-something. Humour and a light touch is a good thing - just not on the front page and for such a serious story. Save it for inside the book.

I too have been very pleasantly surprised by Theresa May. My initial dismay at seeing her made the prime minister has given way to admiration for the way she has taken the reins and is going about delivering - intelligently - what the populace voted for, even though it mightn't have been her first choice. I think we are lucky to have her there. She famously wore otk boots to meet the queen a couple of years ago - something that got a lot of press, but which she carried off with some style.

The Daily mail headline was crass because it was crass - because it reduced the lead story of the day to an adolescent guffaw at a silly word play and to the shoes and legs of the women in the photo, not the important constitutional issues which they were discussing. As far as what they were wearing being worthy of comment - sure. An inside column noting their respective styles and body language would have been worthwhile, but that's not the lead story, nor should it be the front page headline, still less expressed in such a sophomoric way. On the side of the Daily Mail, it is worth noting the vast number of column inches the self-righteous writers of Guardian devoted to Theresa May's leather trousers not too many weeks ago, and their disapproving coverage of her recent appearance in American Vogue magazine. I suppose the Guardian writers believe it is all right when they do it because they are, after all, the Guardian and so by definition it would be impossible for them to do anything sexist or non-PC. I would also add that for all the umbrage expressed by certain female columnists and politicians, and the idea that men would never be subjected to that kind of personal scrutiny - men are subjected to it too. There is just much less of a hoo-ha by the 'victims' when it happens. President Obama, for example, was castigated last year for having the temerity to wear a brown suit, instead of black or navy blue. David Cameron's hair, and Boris Johnson's too, regularly receive comment. In terms of worthy commentary, I would say Theresa May is to be commended for her dress sense - she is happy to push the boundaries of what is considered 'susceptible' for women in their 60s by wearing thigh boots and leather trousers as and when she feels like it. And she manages to carry off the look. That speaks of self confidence, strength of character and a willingness not to blindly follow the herd - good attributes in a politician or a person and worthy of comment.

Four left feet and four tin ears.

Actually you never mentioned stilettos - you referred to heels, as did I. Stilettos, as a specific style, were a 1950s creation specifically designed for women. Nobody could show you a picture or painting of anybody wearing stilettos much before 1950 at the earliest. However, high heels as a fashion go back much, much further - centuries - and there are indeed paintings of Louis XIV of France and King Charles II of England (to name but two fashionable royals) wearing 3-4 inch heels. Neither of the two kings were riding horses n the paintings or were wearing equestrian clothes. They were arrayed in all their court finery. It was totally fashion, a male fashion. Charles II https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/df/44/c0/df44c002469ab4340ae15bc4c657952f.jpg and: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Charles_II_of_England_in_Coronation_robes.jpg Louis XIV: http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkzid3Jvkb1qggdq1.jpg

True, everybody - male or female - makes subliminal judgements about others as we see/encounter them. That's just part of being human. But as you say, this woman is being paid fancy money to offer considered opinions on political topics. This is not a swift subliminal take on sexy (or otherwise) legs, stilettos and outfits, but a feature article that took time write, edit caption and headline - not just be Ms Vine but by the team of editors and copy-editors who put out that paper. And this is what they come up with? This must frank with the infamous Gotcha headline during the Falklands war for sheer stupidity and inappropriateness.

At one time - albeit a long time ago - men did indeed 'own' high heels. They were seen as very masculine and it was only a few very daring women at the dawn of the 18th century who began wearing them. Men of course are always sensitive to anything that strikes at their (our) masculinity and as more women began adopting this exotic fashion for heels, they were dropped by men. If by boots you mean desert boots etc, you may be right. But if you look at selections of men's boots you will see they are nearly all the same - very low ankle boots and with little variation, despite the varying style names. Calf, knee, OTK and higher boots are all the province of women. Men can wear certain styles of knee boots if they happen to be actually riding horses motorcycles, but the horse or motorcycle had better be in the frame. Women can wear equestrian or biker style boots whenever they please and in any context.

For anyone who thought the media had pretty much plumbed the depths and had really nowhere deeper to sink, there was this eye-popping headline on the cover of the Daily Mail this morning. Yes, it's real. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/28/daily-mail-legs-it-front-page-sexist As one commentator put it, this is what happens when you let your drunken pervy uncle edit a newspaper....

Ah yes, but trousers and jeans never became feminine. Not like heels and boots did. They were adopted by women, but never taken over by them. It would have been impossible, really, for women to have done so as that would then have left men literally with nowhere to go for leg coverings. Throughout history skirts, dresses or leggings of some sort have been what humans have covered their lower halves. Two of those three are now comprehensively lost to men. Trousers, jeans etc are the last refuge. There are no alternates left for men to retreat to! Women moved in and adopted them, but couldn't take them over fully as with boots and heels.

Having bought my long sought PVC jeans from Topshop I am now on their e-mailing list - which is fine with me. I received an email from them last week crowing about their new lines of clothing which blurred traditional gender lines. Intrigued, I read on. It was all about women's fashions - pretty yet boyish. The traffic really only ever goes one way...

Yes, that is one of the nice things about this place - the fact that it is just for guys who happen to like heels or boots without going in for all this CD stuff. HHP is supposedly a fashion site but, geez, some of the stuff that appears there! At present there is a deeply offensive photo on one of the HHP threads, utterly inappropriate for anything like a family friendly site (which is what HHP purports to be) and although I reported it, and others probably have as well, judging by the comments, nothing has been done to remove it. It has been up there a week now. Its continued presence on the forum is certainly making me re-think my involvement there.

I am thinking specifically of items from the female side of the shop that have been taken up by men, in the way that masculine items of clothing have been taken up by women - heels, boots, trousers, jeans etc.

I was thinking of things such as heels and tall boots, the colour pink for that matter, which have morphed from masculine to feminine in the fashion world. I am wondering if there has ever been any traffic in the other direction.

THey're worth the effort - in my idiosyncratic opinion anyway! I love mine. They are a great step out of my buttoned-down character I see they come in red, yellow, white and silver too by the way. I am a classicist in my PVC - black!

I wore those a lot in the late 60s early 70s - I had some quite vivid pairs, as I recall. But that whole style just vanished, actual bell bottoms, that it. To the extent they've come back, they have been in women's styles. Boot cut jeans have been pretty much unisex, haven't they?

Probably everybody here is at least vaguely familiar with the idea that heels were originally a masculine thing - a delegation of hard-riding Persian cavalrymen, who wore heels on their ankle boots to stabilise themselves in the saddle when they shot their bows, cut quite a dash at the French court when they visited in the 16th century and before you knew it, their exotic footwear had become all the rage among the nobility. By the daw of the 18th century the writing was on the wall for this new fashion, because women had taken to heels well. Before too many more years had passed heels were seen as a feminine thing and no self-respecting man would go near them And that is pretty much how things have stayed for the past 250 years or so, with just occasional - brief - period where men could 'get away' with wearing heels in certain circumstances. In thinking over this history, I am trying to think of any fashion, once adopted by women, that has successfully made a return to the male wardrobe (at least in a mainstream way) It seems like once something has gone feminine, there is no reviving it. On the other hand, women borrow freely and frequently from men's fashions, but it never goes the other way. The only thing that comes directly to mind is the earring, which is now pretty much a unisex thing. Can anyone think of any other article of fashion - once male, but which became feminised, but has nevertheless enjoyed a broad and successful return to the male wardrobe?

Nice quality, though

Oh, I see Topshop has now largely restocked their Moto Jamie Jeans in black PVC: http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?searchTermScope=3&searchType=ALL&viewAllFlag=false&beginIndex=1&langId=-1&productId=26901682&pageSize=20&defaultGridLayout=3&CE3_ENDECA_PRODUCT_ROLLUP_ENABLED=N&searchTerm=TS02K26KBLK&productOnlyCount=1&catalogId=33057&productIdentifierproduct=product&geoip=search&x=25&searchTermOperator=LIKE&sort_field=Relevance&y=11&storeId=12556&qubitRefinements=siteId%3DTopShopUK

I totally agree with you there, Freddie, in wondering why heels/boots are not more mainstream. To be sure you read articles every now and then that suggest heels/boots are going to be the next thing in male fashion, but these grand visions seldom get off the catwalk or the glossy pages of a style mag - in part, I suspect, because the looks presented are so androgynous. And that is not a look that is going to appeal to the mainstream. I can understand why stilettos will not make it in men's fashion - they were designed specifically for women; they were never part of the males fashion scene. But chunky heels certainly were, and tall boots as well. It does seem to be the case that once something has gone over to the distaff side of the shop, however masculine it might once have been, it is never coming back.

That's one of the reasons why I go for the slightly scruffy look - the skin on my face does not respond well to shaving. I couldn't grow a beard in a million years. A rough goatee would be the best I could possibly manage. I have tried a couple of time and it wasn't pretty...

I am better behind a camera than in front of it... Stylish, modish - all workable adjectives. Work is slow at the moment but when things are gong along nicely I could, in theory, get pictures from some of the world's most remote places

Of legs, perhaps. I give the ole face a bit of a clean up every week or so, going with a slightly scruffy look for the most part. I'd love to learn to use a straight razor properly. Anyone know how to do that? Had experience?

Not lying down on PVC sheets, I hope.

You're quite right. When I use the term "fashionable" to describe my style of OTK boots, I am using the adjective in a generic sense - being well aware that OTK boots, or indeed even any boots above low-ankle height, have not been fashionable for men in decades. I use 'fashionable' in opposition to 'fetish' as I wish to make clear my interest and purpose in wearing my boots and I can think of no other descriptive that works quite as well. Yes, PVC gloves, PVC corsets, PVC everything in some people's worlds. In mine there is just the jeans, and a High Street variety at that.