Your First Pair of Heels

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Angie is co-founder of YLF and its resident fashion stylist.

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Your First Pair of Heels

— by Angie

on June 15, 2011

I can remember getting my first pair of tiny heels in 1982 at the age of 12. They were bright red patent winklepickers (very pointy pump-like shoes), and the dear little heels were about an inch high. I loved those shoes.

I got my first pair of three inch heels, the highest heels that I own, not that long ago at age 36. They are in fact my red Kate Spade pumps, which I’ve had for four years and reserve for sitting occasions. Clearly, red heels have an impact on my style.

Can you remember when you got your first pair of heels, and when you first started wearing higher heels?

Footwear

41 comments · Add a comment

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

I don’t remember my first pair of heels, but I remember my first pair of non-black shoes. It was not that long ago!!

June 15, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Inge

I can’t really remember my first pair of heels, I think it might have been a purple suede pair (about 1 inch) that I loved to wear with opaque black hose and skirts and dresses.

I’ve been wearing relatively high wedges (2.5 to 3.5 inches) for years, but my first pair of 3 inch pumps (red too) I got a few years ago. And promptly sold them again. I don’t know what I was thinking. They were very uncomfortable, not just because of the height, but mainly because the patent leather was so stiff. My legs did look a mile long in them:-)

June 15, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Cynthia

(website)

My first pair of higher heels was my ballroom dancesport shoes, in 2005 or so. If all heels were built like that I might wear more of them. I had been convinced via prior experiences even with lower heels that I “could not walk in heels”, and during grad school, I’d worn Birkenstocks or Doc Martens daily for something like 8 years straight. Ballroom set me straight. Walking or dancing in heels requires a particular posture and some core traning if you want not to clomp and wobble. I can in fact walk a good distance in heels now that I have the body skills down, I just don’t like to and if I wear heels daily I get severe forefoot pain.

June 15, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

What an interesting question, it really got me thinking.

The first pair of heels I wore were my mum’s nude sandals when I used to play dressing up games.

The first heels I owned were hand-me-downs from a cousin who no longer wanted hers and I was happy to start learning walking in them as they had rather comfortable heel.

The first heels I actually bought come from Amsterdam of all places. It was about 6 years ago. I still have them somewhere, boxed, I wore them to my sister’s wedding, but I think I’ll pass them soon on as I can no longer see myself wearing that style.

June 15, 2011 at 3:19 pm

taylor

Veteran

Oh I remember perfectly…they were nude, Maryjane type with about a 1 1/2 inch heel and I got them when summer school when i started Jr. high…must have been 1967/68 or so…I wore them until the heel fell off one of them…I loved those shoes!!

My mother didn’t wear heels , but I remember when my grandmother passed away that same year (1967/68) her shoes showed up in my mom’s closet(temporarily) she had the most beautiful nude colored open toed pumps that I pranced around in…praying my foot would miraculously grow overnight and they would fit! Of course that never happened and thus started my love afair with heels!

June 15, 2011 at 3:30 pm

mellllls

I think my first pair of heels were for my bat mitzvah at age 12. Although, the heel was so small, I don’t think I could consider them heels anymore! They were creamy and point-toed but a 0.5-1 inch heel.

June 15, 2011 at 3:31 pm

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

Just realized I was writing about high heels only in my reply.

If we broaden the question to any heels, that I’d *really* need to think about.

June 15, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Sarah

Active Member

I got a pair of 1 inch heels as a hand me down from an older cousin when I was about 8. I felt so fabulous in those things. I didn’t return to heels, minus a few sporadic pairs here and there until was 18, then I lived in stilettos. Now my feet are almost 10 years older and wiser and I don’t live in stilettos, though, I’d love to

June 15, 2011 at 4:05 pm

Lauren

I was about 14. They were high heeled penny loafers – it was around 1992. They had a chuncky 1.5 inch heel.

I currently love heels. My favorite heel height is around 3.5 inches.

June 15, 2011 at 4:15 pm

patti

(website)

Active Member

No . . . I can’t remember! But I’m older than most here : > I do remember shopping for heels in my first real job after college. I worked in downtown Boston, and would slip out on my lunch hour to shop at Filene’s Basement for cool grown-up shoes. Very fond memories.

June 15, 2011 at 4:17 pm

Diana

Veteran

Yes! My first heels were a sweet little pair of plummy purple (almost fuchsia) kitten heeled, almond toed pumps. About a one-inch heel if I remember correctly. I think I was eleven or twelve at the time, and I LOVED them and was so sad when they no longer fit. In fact, I am still always stalking shoes in that particular shade of plum!

Around high school (in the early-mid 90’s) I started wearing a lot of platform or wedge slide sandals and the like. I also had some three inch high patent leather pumps with chunky heels which may be to date still the highest non-platform shoes I have owned. These are still the kinds of heels I favor, platforms and chunky heels.

June 15, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Aziraphale

Veteran

I was not allowed to wear heels of any kind as a teenager, and by the time I was no longer subject to my parents’ rules, it was the grunge era, and I wouldn’t have been caught dead in a pair!

I got my first pair of true heels for my own wedding. They were cream, with an almond toe, and slim maryjane strap, and the relatively slender heel was maybe a little over two inches high. I wore them precisely once.

Over the next couple of years, I picked up two pairs of stiletto-heeled strappy sandals to wear to other people’s weddings. They both looked fantastic, but made my feet scream. I rarely wore them, and eventually even seeing them there in my closet annoyed me. What’s the point of beautiful shoes you can’t wear?

Then, at age 36, I discovered the joys of COMFY high heels. I was given a pair of Campers “heels for beginners” as a Christmas present. Since by that time I was ready to start dressing like a grown-up, I started looking into collecting more cute, funky but above all comfortable heels. I got my first pair of four-inchers a year or so ago (Fluevogs, of course!). They were expensive, but they made me feel like a film star and my thinking was, I’m going to be forty soon, it’s about damn time I get to strut around in a pair of truly high heels!

June 15, 2011 at 4:48 pm

Aziraphale

Veteran

It just occurred to me….do those block-heeled boots that were popular in the 90s count? I had a number of pairs of those, both ankle- and knee-height. I don’t really think of them as “heels”, although they were all about two inches high, because of how thick the heel was.

Also I had a couple of pairs of those platform wedge slides from the late 90s/early 2000s. The sole under the toe was about two inches, and under the heel was maybe three inches. Remember those?

June 15, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Steph

Veteran

My first “heels” were probably about an inch or so, patent leather, that I wore as a child. Maybe somewhere between 10 and 12 years old? In high school (around age 14) I began wearing heels that were about 2.5 inches tall. By college I had moved on to 3 and 4 inch heels. I remember going home, looking at the 2.5 inch heels from high school and thinking “those are practically flats!” I haven’t looked back since then.

June 15, 2011 at 5:06 pm

Maya

Veteran

I think mine were some ridiculous jelly shoes with glitter that I got when I was 13. Even then my fussy feet protested and I only wore them once (not because of the heel, but because apparently plastic isn’t very forgiving).

Angie, don’t you have some cream oxfords with a very high heel? The ones that you had shortened? I thought even after shortening they were higher than 3″.

June 15, 2011 at 5:19 pm

Kristina

Oh my goodness. For my Rainbow Girls initiation when I was 12, I wore a green and white dotted swiss formal my aunt made me, with about 1 1/2 – 2 inch white mary janes. I thought I was very chic. I have a fairly narrow foot and still require “training wheels” (mary jane straps) when I wear heels.

June 15, 2011 at 6:20 pm

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks for sharing!

Steph, your high heel wearing ability is astounding.

Maya, quite right, I got those after my Kate Spades and they are 3 inches high now, after shortening. They are a little shorter than my Spades, which are just over 3 inches in heel height. My Spades are still the highest heels that I own

June 15, 2011 at 6:33 pm

Christie

I wore my first heels for my high school graduation … 1 inch black sling-backs. My next pair were also 1 inch sling-backs … cognac and wide strappy styled. I still love those shoes in my memory!

June 15, 2011 at 6:37 pm

Lisa

Veteran

My first pair of heels were black 1 or 1 1/2 inch pumps. I remember getting these at age 12 after a summer full of camp. I still have the photo of me in my camp printed t-shirt, some casual shorts, a dark tan (my darkest ever) and those new black pumps. I didn’t wear any heel regularly until college. I would walk to class everyday in 3 1/2 inches or higher. Now I rotate a lot with my heel heights. I don'[t care for wearing the same height everyday.

June 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm

rosee

Veteran

My first pair of heels was a brown 2-piece maryjane with a wooden 2″ heel and a western-70s look to it — that was in 1981, and I wore it to a junior-high band concert (I played clarinet, but very poorly).

My next pairs were pointy-toed kitten-heeled pumps in the mid-80s in black and red.

I figured I’ve owned well over 100 pairs of shoes since that brown pair mentioned above (sizes 7.5 and 8), but my first over 3″ pair was only in the last few years. I just sold them to a friend b/c they are too high for me (tan strappy wedge sandal). I’m now limited to 3″ or lower.

June 15, 2011 at 10:01 pm

Lena

Active Member

I don’t remember my first pair of low heels. My first high heels came at age 17: about 2 inches high; brown sandals, sort of cage style but with thick straps and a wide stacked heel. I clomped around the house happy as a clam the day I acquired them. I wore them for several summer seasons until they almost fell apart.

June 15, 2011 at 10:26 pm

Aunty

Veteran

Oh I do, 1974 age 15 big clumpy platforms in black. I saved for ages to get those shoes, when I think about them now I shudder!!!

June 16, 2011 at 12:28 am

Carla Roque

(website)

Active Member

oh, I can”t remember. This question got me thinking. But I own a new pair black p-e-p-e-r-m-i-n-t leather shoes. I got it recently from CenterPoint. My husband said my feet iooks too small on it. I don’t mind because it is cute and comfortable although it is much of a sitting shoes. Is there a giide on buying pumps Ms. Angie?

June 16, 2011 at 12:33 am

RoseandJoan

Veteran

My first pair of high heels were 3″ cork platforms, with a black fabric crossover strap to the front and slingback detailing, I wore them regularly with my white or blue black jeans, stripy tee and black waistcoat, that was 1993 and I would probably wear a more refined version of that look now. How very strange.

June 16, 2011 at 1:29 am

April

Veteran

High school. It was the disco era, and we all wore spike heels (often Candies mules) to school, with our “designer jeans,” which had zero stretch in those days.

My very very first pair were a burgundy sandal style with a wooden platform, and the heel had a hole in it. Kind of like this: http://www.zappos.com/images/7.....9811-d.jpg

June 16, 2011 at 3:22 am

Sihaya

Veteran

I remember my first pair of heels. They were two and half inch platform shoes when I was 11. I loved them but my legs started to hurt. When we went to a doctor, he said it was because of the heels. That stopped me from wearing heels for many years.

June 16, 2011 at 5:15 am

Clover

My first pair of high heels were a child sized pair of stilleto strappy sandals that were packaged with a little girl’s red “evening gown” and a white fur wrap. This was in the mid ’60s and at the age of 7 my expectations were set for the life of the grown-up lady I would be. ( ; My first pair of real heeled shoes was a pair of sandals with 1″ heels I was allowed to have for my sixth grade graduation. These were also my first pair of shoes in an adult size, quite thrilling!

June 16, 2011 at 6:48 am

rute

Veteran

oh yes!!
It was a pair of clogs when I was 15!
I spent two months trying to convince my mother!

June 16, 2011 at 6:50 am

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I like hearing the range of generations commenting on this post

Rute, that’s hilarious.

June 16, 2011 at 7:06 am

Antje

Veteran

Wow, I cannot remember! I do remember having some kitten heels when I was 16, which were vintage – I was in a big vintage phase for a while, combined with New Wave – don’t ask… Not sure if anything came before that!

In more recent years, I’ve always worn boots with 2 inch heels, and I have pumps for work that are 1.5 inches or so. I have a couple pairs of fancier sandals for weddings and such, but they get worn rarely – they aren’t even that high (maybe 2 inches) but the heels are skinny and that makes the difference for me between comfy and awkward.

Most lately, I’ve definitely been more drawn to heels than flats, but they have to be chunky and not higher than 2 inches.

I don’t think I’ve ever worn any heels higher than 2 inches, come to think of it. I admire women who do, as long as they look comfortable, at ease, and have a steady walk. (Women in heels who wobble make me cringe.)

June 16, 2011 at 9:13 am

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Fun reading everyone’s memories! The first pair of heels that I remember were my grey, low-heeled pumps that I wore for high school graduation, with a very vivid purple silk Maggie London dress.

June 16, 2011 at 10:36 am

Kate

I think my first pair of heels were black patent leather with a flat bow and a one-inch heel, when I was about 12 or 13. Very demure heels to be sure. A few years later, when I was earning my own money with summer jobs, I followed my heart and bought very high wedge heels and platforms, which I wore with bell bottoms. Loved those platform shoes. Still do. My poor mother hated them, and predicted I was in for a lifetime of foot pain. Happily, that prediction did not come to pass.

June 16, 2011 at 11:22 am

mamark

When I turned 15 in 1980, I got a total of $75 for my birthday from my parents and other relatives. I spent it on two pairs of shoes, much to my mother’s chagrin as she probably thought $75 would have bought me a new wardrobe. Both were heels and they were my first. They were from the clearance rack of the “fancy” shoe store in town, one we never shopped at.

It took me a while to realize that 3″ heels were really not going to be all that practical for a high school sophomore, particularly because I was 6’1″ with them on, but I wore them anyway because they were so pretty!

June 16, 2011 at 2:56 pm

Meredith

Active Member

Oh my goodness! I do not remember my first pair of heels, but they were probably my first grown-up heeled tap shoes when I was 12 or 13.

June 17, 2011 at 7:19 am

Rachel

My first pair – I was in my early teens, maybe 14? They were black patent pumps with a skinny 2- or 3-inch heel. I loved them. I wore them with baby doll dresses when we went out for Mother’s Day brunch and other holidays.

My mom never wore heels, and was completely confused by them and the fact that I wanted to wear them. They weren’t exactly a gateway shoe for me, though – I didn’t really start regularly heels until I was in my 20s.

June 17, 2011 at 9:55 am

Jennifer

My first pair of heels was when I was 12 (45 years ago!). I talked my mum into buying them for me as up until that time I was only allowed to wear boring, lace up, either black or brown leather oxfords. The shoes were white patent slingbacks with probably a 1″ heel. They also had a bow on the vamp. I thought I had died and gone to heaven….wore them until they were totally trashed. I had completely forgotten about them until you asked the question.

June 17, 2011 at 7:37 pm

nicoleb

(website)

Veteran

I remember my mom letting me borrow a pair of her 6″ heels to wear under my prom dress in high school. I can’t believe i didn’t break my neck as i didn’t really wear heels before that.

I can’t really remember my official first pair (sad!) but i remember being 18 and having a pair of jelly-ish clear Steve Madden thong sandals with a couple inch heel on them that i thought were the coolest and wore with everything, primarily pants at the improper length.

June 18, 2011 at 7:08 am

Michelle

(website)

Active Member

I think I must have been 10 when I convinced my mother to buy me a very cute pair of sandals with a wedge heel. They probably weren’t that high but I thought they were very ‘grown up’ at the time. I can’t remember my first serious heels but I’ve been loving high heels for a very long time. I can’t wear them as much now but when not going out with my kids I bring them out to play!

June 18, 2011 at 12:41 pm

suzanne

Active Member

My mom thought that heels for girls were common, so I always had to wear flat orthopedic endorsed Mary Jane t-bars, leather lace-ups or canvas tennis shoes. This did not quell the burning longing that I had for heals. When I was 8, after Sunday school a friend, Shelley, who was wearing the most darling Mary Janes with a 3 or 4 cm heal admired my yellow Mary Janes with the daisy motif embroidery. Little idiot that I was, I immediately offered my own pair of shoes in a swap transaction. I made it to the car without my parents noticing my fantastic heels and *almost* made it into the house. My mom noticed my new hobbling walk, looked at my feet and exploded. When I told her that I would return Shelley’s shoes and ask for my own back she forbade me, immediately phoned Shelley’s mother to ask if the shoe swap was ok with her – it was – summarily took the high heeled shoes from me and in the following week gave them to charity.
Instantly and permanently cured from any longing for high heeled shoes! Nowadays I do own two pairs of closed pumps and a pair of sandals with heels BUT… I only wear them to church

June 21, 2011 at 1:29 am

barbara

when i was 14 i saved my babysitting money and bought myself red t-straps with 3″ heels. my mother took one look at them and promptly threw them into the incinerator. a few weeks later i saw them on the janitor’s wife. i still can’t pass up red high heels.

March 29, 2013 at 8:07 pm

Eloise

I got my first pair of wedges when I was 11. They are my fave pair and I love them. I still have them and I wear them through the village. They are a good few centimeters high and I love ❤ them

October 24, 2014 at 2:07 pm

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