High Heels & Mathematics

Mathematics can explain a lot of things, but did you ever think someone would apply such logic and reasoning to the wearing of high heels?  Well, someone did, and you can read about it here.

As I find myself using my Ellie and Pleaser shoes to inflict damage upon some of the helpless victims in my collection, understanding a bit about what's going on didn't seem like a bad idea.  You can anticipate me referencing this page a lot in the future!

Looking Down

Most women are used to a guy's eyes gravitating to points north on their body.  What would women think if they knew that my eyes are programmed to look down (in addition to north because, after all, I'm a normal guy once you get past this peculiar interest of mine)?

I can't help myself, as much as I've tried in the past to keep my interest in a woman's shoes from taking control.  Of course I make it a point to be as discreet as possible, but I'm not sure if I'm always successful.  I can only hope.  At least looking down has provided me with lots of visuals, lots of insight and lots of stories throughout the years.

It was when I worked part-time at a local grocery store that I really began paying attention to what women wore on their feet.  Over time I discovered there were some customers that I really enjoyed seeing walk up and down the aisles.  Three stand out in my mind- all middle-aged, and all with an affinity for Keds and Keds-style sneakers.  One (who, for some reason, stands out in my mind as having always been pregnant despite the fact that I only ever saw her with one of two kids) had feet that would cause the uppers to bulge severely on the sides of her feet- something that those kinds of sneakers didn't seem designed to prevent all that well.  Another had sneakers that always had holes on the sides, and regardless of the pair she was wearing they were always in the exact same spots.  If I was working on the sales floor, I'd always make it a point to start blocking a lower shelf in their vicinity so I could be closer to their feet as they walked by (yes, I never forgot my retail terminology, despite now having been out of the business for close to a decade.)

However, there was one woman that still stands out in my mind for a number of reasons.  First, she was the mother of a good friend of mine throughout my school years, all the way up to a few years following high school graduation.  Second, she was divorced but clearly had money, which made it amusing that she wore the most trashed, abused and plain disgusting Keds you can ever imagine being used as serious articles of clothing.  They weren't falling apart like those featured in one of my favorite YouTube videos (see below) but they were stretched out, scratched and faded beyond belief.  What possessed a mature woman with money to leave her house in such lousy sneakers when she likely had a closet full of more presentable options?  Third, she always seemed to bestow upon me an unreasonable amount of attention, often stopping me for half hour-long conversations that would have left my boss fuming had I not been such a good employee.  I can recall a talk about not knowing how to cook leading to her begging me to come over to be taught how to prepare a meal, another about going for a ride in her new car and even one where she boasted about the virtues of younger men.  Had she not been the mother of my friend, I probably wouldn't have ignored her flirtatious overtures.

Speaking of trashed and abused Keds, check out this YouTube video.  It starts out with some nice footage of the wearer playing with her pumps in the snow but then heats up when she tosses a rotten old pair of the things to the ground and tramples the living hell out of them, even going as far as to shove the pumps she's wearing into the Keds.  The fact that the uppers are ripped and torn to the point of barely being able to hold themselves together makes the sneakers appear to shudder in either pain, fear or both.  There's no telling what I'd pay for a pair of Keds like that if they came my way.

Ummm, What's That Thing Called?

I just had a conversation with a friend who kept referring to her heel lifts, referencing the little pieces of plastic on the ends of her heels.  I've heard others call them taps, caps and tips.  However, this page covering the anatomy of a high-heeled shoe calls them top pieces and since that's the page I've been referencing since I started this blog, is what I'll consider my bible.  Just thought I'd share, in case any of my posts have created any confusion.

Your Questions, My Answers

Over the past week, I've received a few emails asking for me to show more photos from my collection of trashed and abused shoes, including a few requests for more heels to be featured on the blog.  As I explained in my responses to those emails, I'll happily oblige.  After all, I've been looking forward to both.

I want shoes from the collection I've been building to be a central part of the blog.  I get so much enjoyment out of them and like to think others can enjoy them as well when I photograph and describe them in detail.  However, I've never wanted those to be the only features on the blog.  The point of all this is for me to explore all aspects of the hobby, and that includes a lot of things I'm just now starting to figure out, like the joy I've discovered in destroying shoes with my Ellies.  It's clear to me that many of you enjoy the trashing- and abuse-related items I've found on other sites.  One of the most viewed posts on the blog is the one where I talk about the mom who wears her heels to the playground.  There will definitely be a lot more highlighting what I've been buying on eBay to add to my collection, but I'll also try to maintain a good balance around here, touching on a lot of different things.

As for the lack of heels, I have them in my collection, although not as many pairs as I'd like.  I'm working on that... trust me.  Heels are difficult.  While eBay is a wonderful tool I've discussed in the past, finding trashed and abused heels isn't easy, probably because of the nature of the shoes.  In my dreams, women wear their nicest pumps on spontaneous walks in the woods... in reality, they're usually reserved for events where they won't be taxed with any kind of hard work.  The toughest chores most high heels have to suffer through is drunken dancing at weddings, and they usually get a few weeks or months off after that short-lived experience.  I tend to look for office shoes because those are worn on a daily basis and often for long periods of time, but even then they're typically stuck walking carpeted hallways and being kicked off underneath a desk.

Right now, my collection features more high-heeled boots than pumps.  For some reason women seem to have fewer reservations about wearing a pair of thigh-high boots to death than a fancy pair of slingbacks.  Therefore I'll be posting a lot of boots in the future... that is, as soon as I use my engineering skills to finish crafting something to ensure the shafts stay upright during photography sessions.  I also have some flats and sneakers to share with you.  I know... some of you aren't really into flats and sneakers, but I think you'll enjoy some of the ones I've purchased.  Others ended up being duds, and maybe you'll take comfort in the fact that they'll meet unpleasant ends.

Thanks for reading, and keep the questions and suggestions coming.  It's always great learning what you want to see.

Ladies! Please Wear the High Heels Right!

A while back, my endless internet searching led me to a short but interesting blog post by a modeling agency in South Africa.  The "human element" is what got my attention because the woman posting mentioned feeling bad for high heels worn the wrong way.  When I started this blog, I searched for the post but had no initial luck, and for good reason: it appears the website was hacked, or otherwise compromised.  It took me a little while to come to the realization that I could use the trusty Internet Archive: Wayback Machine to find an archived version of the site.  Sure enough, it worked.  And here it is.

Anything that anthropomorphizes woman's shoes is okay in my book, and this was the first time I had seen someone else express sadness over the way some shoes are treated.  It also touches upon one of my favorite signs of trashing and abuse, which occurs when the woman wearing the shoe walks on the outsides of her feet and causes abnormal wear- in the case of high heels, top pieces worn down at an angle.  The tips for wearing high heels also makes for good reading.  Tip #7, which reads, "Never put pressure on the heels" is my favorite.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm starting to understand what it's like to wear heels, and maybe even the fact that I disagree with statements about not putting weight on the heels.  Maybe it's just me but I find it comfortable and pleasurable to rest my weight on the heels.  Then again, it might be easier for me to do that because I have a large foot and there is a big difference between wearing 5" heels with feet that are twelve inches long as opposed to seven inches long.  Simple geometry and physics.

Don't get too excited about the comments section.  The conversation devolves into a bunch of spam posts before it has a chance to develop into something good.  What a shame.

Where Did It Start?

Wow, I've done a lot of talking so far.  And that makes sense, since it's my blog!  But I know a lot of you are out there.  I see the stats.  I observe the number of hits each day.  Anyone up for saying anything?  Like, how it all started for you?

As a kid, I had a fascination with my mom's shoes.  I think most boys can claim the same thing, as I doubt there are many out there that didn't fit their tiny feet into their mom's comparatively large high heels and drag them across the bedroom or living room (I did, and my mom got mad at me because she feared I would break the heels).  As I got older, I was still drawn to them, and satisfied my interest by somehow convincing my childhood friend (the girl from down the block, who was about two years younger) to wear them when we were alone in the house.  I'd go into my mom's closet, take out a pair of shoes and she'd wear them, even though it was a bit of a struggle because she had no experience whatsoever in wearing heels.  Yes, this was before we were of the age when we would have started using that alone time for other things.

I figured it was a passing thing but when I got involved with my first real girlfriend, I was instantly drawn to her shoes.  It began innocently enough when we were working the same shift and she gave me her keys so I could put something in her car.  On the floor was a pair of generic brand Keds-style canvas sneakers that I had seen her wear before.  Free from the imprisonment of her feet, I could see they were completely worn out.  She was a heavyset girl and I enjoyed observing the way her self-proclaimed habit of being hard on her shoes left her with a collection of nicely trashed and abused footwear.  The unintentional destruction of the shoes was something special to witness.

Her Keds-style sneakers wore down in the expected ways- the canvas uppers started to lose their shape and started to grow holes where the big toes rubbed against them, the gum-like rubber soles became smooth and began separating from the uppers in a few spots and the once-pristine white insides got smelly and sweat-stained.  A pair of black leather lace-up booties were stretched out and the soles worn unbelievably thin, with the small blocky heels seeming to have lost a quarter inch in height.  Other shoes collapsed under the pressure of their trashing and abuse in more entertaining ways.  A pair of old leather Reebok sneakers (not sure what they're called, but the kind every woman seemed to wear at some point during the 90's) were constantly torqued to the side with the uppers appearing to swell over the sides of the soles, as part of her "hard walk" was walking on the outer sides of her feet.  A pair of slip-on leather sandals had the shanks- shallow as they were on sandals with such low heels- crack in half and more or less be held together by the material that made up the lining.  Her one pair of heels were at least fifteen years old with ripped leather lining, leather that was stretched and torn in places and top pieces worn down at an angle that caused the shoes to lean dangerously to each side when left unattended on the floor, almost in a admission of defeat.  Her shoes were the first ones to make me wonder what shoes would think, if they could think at all.  I'd look at her shoes and suspect they were left screaming in pain and wishing for any kind of peace, even if it meant being thrown in the garbage and left for dead in a landfill.

Over the years, I had other girlfriends that occupied opposite ends of the spectrum.  One was so madly in love with me after the first date (I know... I'm irresistible... haha, just kidding!) that when she wore a tattered pair of flats on our second date, I demanded that she hand them over to me on the third date... and she did, although I sweetened the deal by taking her to the shoe store to buy her a new pair of shoes... and she did, having driven me nuts by trying on pair after pair of towering stilettos before deciding on one just before I was ready to explode.  On the flip side, another girlfriend scoffed at the idea of keeping any pair of shoes past the point where they were mildly worn and had no desire whatsoever to keep one pair for the purposes of trashing and abusing.

So, what's your story?  Where did it start?  And how to you indulge?  And if you're a female reader of this blog, what do you think about all of this?

Unbelievably Worn Flats

I know I've been quiet the last few days but I assure you more posts are coming, including a good look at more shoes in my rapidly-growing collection.  In the meantime I thought I'd share another gem found on the internet, this one about a pair of horrendously worn flats, apparently by a woman named Regina.

Granted, there isn't much to see aside from the soles, although if the uppers are anything close to being this bad, these flats must have been damn near embarrassing to wear.  Regina seems almost surprised by the fact that her shoes are so worn, as if she didn't see or feel the gigantic holes appearing under the balls of her feet?  The right shoe appears just about ready to break into two!

Too bad the post is from 2009, because if it were more recent I would attempt to get in touch with her and make her an offer for those flats.  She'd probably think me insane, but that kind of shoe trashing and abuse is the kind that makes me stupid with money and willing to spend whatever it takes to get my hands on what I want.

A Mom Wears Heels To the Playground

My continued internet search for hidden gems uncovered this CafeMom post by a mother who wore her heels to the playground.  I'm undecided on what I find more entertaining- the story of how the mom tackled the obstacles of the playground in a pair of heels, or the comments ranging from, "who cares?" to a woman that nastily feels, "This may be the stupidest article I've read on here... Our society is seriously f***ed up when a woman feels she HAS to wear feet-damaging shoes to feel special. I feel all kinds of special in my Walmart flip flops, because I know my worth isn't measured in how much pain my feet are in."  I wouldn't be shocked if those Walmart flip flops are actually a pair of Crocs.

The mom's, "I'll do what I want, when I want and how I want" attitude is inspiring, even if the whole thing reeks of a little self-promotion (after all, there was someone clearly asked to be present with a camera to photograph the whole show.)

Compelling Insight...

Not being sure how long it takes for a blog to become searchable, I figured I would type "trashed abused shoes" into Google to see if this got listed.  No such luck, or at least not yet, but something else was brought to my attention that I found interesting, and perhaps you'll find interesting as well.  This discussion on purseforum won't take you too long to read and if you're anything like me, you'll be left wishing it was longer because it offers some valuable insight into the subject of trashed and abused shoes.

Every once in a while, I'll buy something from someone on eBay that's willing to engage in a conversation about the trashing and abuse of shoes.  Not only do I love old shoes, but I love discussing why shoes are allowed to get ruined to the point where they're basically useless as shoes.  I mean, I wear my sneakers and shoes until they're in pretty sad shape, but I'm a guy... I'm not supposed to like shopping for shoes... and finding shoes in a size that fits my big feet is often a challenge I don't feel like tackling too often.  Women, on the other hand, seem to love shopping for shoes... the more, the better... and with so many often at their disposal, why not spread the use instead of going back to one pair over and over until it's seen way better days?

According to this discussion, women are split on the role of their shoes.  It starts off with the original poster feeling bad for the pair of ruined Pradas that inspired her to write, stating, "I dunno, maybe she was really rich and could afford these as her 'comfy old go-to pair' or maybe she really really loves them and can't bear to be without them for even a day... but I thought it was an awful shame to have shoes that beautiful get into such a bad state... I already feel bad that there is a scrape on a pair of patent $75 shoes..."  She's supported by another who says, "i firmly believe in taking good care of all my possessions - it makes me so sad to see *any* pair of shoes being abused, regardless of the price. If it's something cute that you like, why wouldn't you take care of it? That's how I feel when I see shoes that are just completely trashed" and another taking a much more extreme point of view by pointing out, "The condition of your shoes is a reflection of you. Shoes in poor repair show that you don't care about your appearance."  There are obviously women who are very, very serious about the idea of taking care of their shoes.

Thankfully (especially for people like us), there are women who treat their shoes as the utilitarian objects they are, nicely confirming, "I can't say I abuse my shoes... but I certainly don't baby them. As the other girls have pointed out, they are meant to be worn!", and backed up by another that, "as much as I love shoes and as much money as I spend on shoes, they ultimately serve a purpose...or two, rather. To walk in and to make me feel good!"  We can all feel good some women take things even further than that, like one that boldly proclaims, "I am a shoe abuser. You should see my CLs. I wear them to clubs in Vegas and local bars--not very shoe friendly. I also like my boots worn and abused looking. So I will "break in" Gucci boots by sliding and dragging my feet through pebbles, dirt, and sand."  Wow.  She drags her boots through pebbles, dirt, and sand?  I need to meet this one.  She can horrify the friend of the woman who shudders as she tells the story of her friend:

"My best friend is the complete opposite of me and sometimes I am horrified at the acts of shoe abuse she executes in front of me. Example: She wore her brand new pair of Christian Louboutin Madame Butterfly Booties (IN FUCHSIA!...SUEDE!) to a wedding pre-party and after spending hours getting them knicked and scratched on the dance floor she proceeded to spill a cocktail on them and then try to "clean" the cocktail off the shoes by dabbing the suede with wet toilette paper. I wanted to cry. At the end of the night when it was all over I said, "Your beautiful shoes are trashed", to which she responded, "They got WORN and they are just shoes!" Aghhhhhhh. To each their own but I still cringe when I think of that night and those gorgeous booties getting all trashed."

Of course, that doesn't answer many questions.  Why does the one woman like her Gucci boots looking worn and abused?  Is it an image thing?  Is there something to the idea of dominating an inanimate object?  And how about the woman that voiced indifference to her shoes getting ruined at a wedding?  Is it a lack of care, as suggested by the poster that thinks someone who wears shoes in bad condition is somehow a lesser person, or some kind of belief that shoes are something that are designed and manufactured to take abuse until they can't possibly take any more?  Is this reading more into the subject?  Or is this all-too-brief exchange of opinions an indication there is more than meets they eye?