For some reason, women will often fixate on a guy's shoes, and become indignant if the shoes fail an arcane litmus test of style, tint, materials, condition, or cost. This is an area that I like to play with. While I have nice men's dress shoes in several styles, they are typical boring men's shoes, and get me no attention from women.

To catch the women's attention, and give them something to think about, that will hold their interest, I use my unusual shoe gambit. This is an idea which I have been refining and taking to further extremes. As a shorter guy, who doesn't want to carry around a soap box to stand on, I have been utilizing taller shoes instead.

Almost without fail, this will grab the women's attention, and incite comments from them, beginning a conversation. By taller shoes, I mean boots with 4" heels that lift me up, well above my natural altitude. These are boots in models ranging from rather unisex, if high, designs, to gender assumption challenging stilettos, with pointed toes.

The whole idea is to break the gender rules of dressing, in a rather small, but noticeable way.
And that can really shake people up. I have even been dubbed as a "metrosexual."

At singles dances I go to, the women are titillated by the opportunity to dance with the guy in extreme high heels, and they ask me to dance. "Why do you wear high heels?" they ask. "Because I can," I reply. "How can you walk in those shoes?" I am asked. "I practice at home," is my answer. Some of the women will confide that they cannot wear such high heels themselves.

Because most women are fashion conscious, they think a lot about shoes, how they look and fit, and whether they are comfortable. When a guy invades the realm of tall shoes, women can't resist talking about it. Of course, not all women like it. Some become upset. But it catches their attention in a way, that little else will. "I didn't know they made men's shoes that high," one woman remarked. "Where did you get those?"

Let me give you a real life example of how this works.

On a recent Friday night, I went out on a date, and it was a doozie! My date had new boots, with pointed toes, but they were only 1" heels. By contrast, I was wearing my black leather ankle boots with pointed toes... and 4" Stiletto heels.

We were out to celebrate her birthday, and also with us was her girlfriend from work. The girlfriend had chosen a suburban Minneapolis nightclub, where a country band was playing. Unbeknownst to me, this was a redneck and biker hangout, with a lot of leather in attendance.

We hit the dance floor, after one "firecracker" cocktail, and began a long evening of swing dancing, with lots of spinning and twirling.

Back at our table, our young waitress started giving me a hard time. She said she had never seen dangling earrings like mine on a guy, nor high heel boots on any of their other male patrons. She just couldn't understand it, and seemed to think that I was some kind of strange character. I shrugged, and told her that I had lost a bet, so not to worry about me.

I was getting odd looks from some of the leather clad guys in Harley jackets, as well as many of the women. But I was on a roll, with my "lost a bet" line.

My date insisted that I dance with her girlfriend, too. So I complied, by dancing the girlfriend totally dizzy.

Before we left, at closing, two of the women in the crowd approached me. One wanted to trade her Harley boots for mine, but we wore different sizes. Another tapped me on the shoulder, and asked where I purchased my boots. I told her the name of the shoe store. No! she said. Yes, I responded, telling her the brand and style. She told me her boyfriend has a foot fetish, and, after he saw my boots, that he wanted her to get some, just like mine.

I was strutting my stuff, in this redneck bar, and my date and her girlfriend were flabbergasted by all the attention I was getting. The dancing was fun, and the crowd identified me as an unusual show, on the dance floor. We made it out of the bar, without further incident, but it was a night to remember.

All this actually happened. And it demonstrates the power of footwear, to win friends and influence people.

Now, tall shoes are just a conversation starting gambit, that I came up with. It probably wouldn't work for too many fellows. The tall shoes require carefull fitting, and they are tricky to walk in. Most guys would be too embarrassed to wear them. But I offer this as an example of how a shorter than average, and otherwise physically unremarkable guy, can get women to approach him and engage in conversation.

©2005

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