Following on the heels of this by-now-infamous poll, and this poll posted in response, I’d like to follow the example of Maggie the Ocelot in the second poll, and have this poll for women, to hear the positive side of the question from the wearers themselves. I’ve tried to list all the reasons I can think of. If I’ve omitted anything, do feel free to chime in. Please pick your top 3 reasons.
Again, like Maggie’s poll, for women only.
I think heels are sexy and attractive footwear.
Heels force me to keep my feet straight (I’m pigeon-toed) and my posture good, because I wear a better quality and cut of clothing with my heels.
I like being taller. My husband is 6’6" and I am… not. While normally it’s nice to be able to fit entirely under his arm (literally), I like wearing heels while we’re out together, because our combined heights work out better that way.
That said, I wear my actual “heels” (not counting heeled boots or sandals, wedges, and mostly-even platforms) perhaps twice or three times a month. If you do count the boots, sandals, and wedges in there, then we’re up to two or three times a week.
Incidentally, I don’t find most heels to be uncomfortable, but I select all my shoes (and clothes) to meet a basic comfort level, so I didn’t list that as a special selection basis for heels.
They have intrinsic beauty; I can like how they look without the “make me feel sexy” requirement. :dubious:
One of my basic rules is that life is too short to wear uncomfortable shoes, but I find my heels to be perfectly comfortable. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t own/wear them. I also wear dresses and skirts a lot, and heels look better. Plus, I like to be taller: it seems to confer an advantage in business. People seem to equate tall with authority and knowledgeabilty, for whatever reason…
They look polished and professional with my work clothes, make my legs look great, and make me feel like a grown-up.
What’s not to love.
They are the only things that work with some of my outfits, and they don’t look bad with my jeans, either.
I have had a couple of pairs of heels that were killer, but I got rid of those quickly, and most of them are as comfortable as any other shoe. I have and wear all heel heights up to 3" and this includes a couple with negative heels (yes, i still have my old Earth shoes). I have a pair of 4" heels but those are for very special occasions, as one of the rules in buying heels is that you’re supposed to be able to go on tiptoe at least another inch while wearing them and in those, I can’t–I’m virtually on pointe. (Small feet.) Still, they don’t hurt, they just aren’t much good for standing around in for very long.
I like being taller. Flat shoes give me kind of a backache if I have to be on my feet while wearing them. Heels 1.5-inch and higher, or negative heels, don’t give me a backache.
I don’t wear the same pair two days in a row and I vary the heel height, and when working at home I’m barefoot. (Or in heavy socks, these winter days.) For some reason barefoot does not equal flat heels, at least when it comes to backaches. I have no idea what’s going on there.
To make me taller.
Simple: because I like cute shoes, there are a lot of cute heels out there, and thus they make me look good. Plus, I’m short, (5’2), and they make me look taller.
I like them, they make my work outfits look put together, and I look less like a student and more like a professional. The fact that they make me look good and walk more confidently are a bonus.
Sometimes they “make the outfit” - it isn’t a skirts/pants thing - its sometimes that the outfit you are wearing cries for a pair of cute heels.
Most shoes that I like just happen to be heels. I don’t generally buy uncomfortable shoes, but most are at least 2 inches high. For what it’s worth, I’m 5’8" and 36 years old. I wear pants almost exclusively at work.
“Heels” aren’t synonymous with high-heel pumps, I feel compelled to point out. Most of my cowboy boots have three-inch heels.
I think they’re attractive, and they tend to make me stand up straighter - I have horrible posture. Plus, yes, they do look more formal/professional with skirts and dresses. Patrons treat me with more respect when I dress more professionally.
Because they are pretty and look nice (on their own), they compliment certain outsits and make me feel put-together and grown-up, I look good wearing them (though they don’t change my posture or the arch of my back at all), and I like being taller (they also make my already fairly-long-for-my-height legs look extremely long, so I look just like a model). And most importantly, because I don’t own/wear any that are uncomfortable, much less painful.
ETA: I don’t think of my heels or of myself as ‘sexy’ really. I look young and feel more ‘cute’ or ‘pretty’.
I think they are pretty. I don’t wear them often, but I lust after them often.
Why do you want to look taller? For whom?
Possibly for themselves.
My sister married this year. My 12 year old daughter was a junior bridesmaid - she’s short for her age and isn’t five feet tall yet. But since the tallest bridesmaid was 5’3" - my daughter fit right in.
The 4’10" bridesmaid has been wearing 3"+ heels for years. It apparently gets a little tiring taking to everyone’s breastbone. This gets her eyes up to chin level on a lot of people (she was eye to eye with the female bridal party - those were some short women). Its also apparently tiring to have everyone who meets her say “wow, you’re short!” With platforms and heels on, she’s short, but not “oh, my God, you are so tiny!” short where everyone has to mention it.
(I mentioned the shoes - as it “wow, those are cute, but I don’t think I could walk in them” - she’s the one that said when you are under 5’ tall and have been wearing them for fifteen years, you get really good at walking in them and its the lesser evil).
It’s telling that the motivation to impress or attract other people is near the bottom of the list of preferences. People keep assuming that fashion is always meant as a mating or dominance display. Come to think of it, showy displays for mating and dominance are the domain of the males of higher species in the animal kingdom. Of course fashion could and sometimes does serve those functions. But I think for women in everyday life, who have many far more immediate and pressing concerns than either mating or dominance, fashion enjoyed for its own sake is not in pursuit of any goal or achievement like sex and power. Most often it’s simply a way of enjoying one’s own immediate surroundings, enjoying being one’s individual self. It’s more like beautifying one’s home and garden as a way of just being comfortable/happy with your own existence.
The most popular motivation here is an aesthetic one, that heels and skirts go together well. My GF utterly will not wear flats with skirts or heels with pants. Most women’s preferences aren’t so stringently rule-based, but yeah there is a general sense that heels and skirts are a good combination.
The three I chose were feeling good about myself and confident, heels go with skirts, and walking with grace and poise.
I love pretty shoes. Often, but not always, pretty shoes have high heels. I don’t find them hard to walk in and won’t buy them if they feel uncomfortable, no matter how aesthetically pleasing they are - same goes for pretty flats.
Mind you, I’m currently almost 37 weeks pregnant with a very bad back and hugely swollen feet, so right now I’m mainly wearing slippers!
As any naturally tall woman can tell you (I have a sister who is 5’10"), being tall changes both your self-perception and the way other people tend to perceive you, in some very fundamental ways.
Being tall (I am 5’9" in 4" heels) makes me feel much more powerful and like I take up more space in the world, which as a 100-lb woman with a baby face (things which ensure that a majority of people assess me as childish/feminine/small/weak), feels pretty good.