Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Manly fashions

So yesterday the girls and I were on our way into the city. We had just turned onto the county road heading toward town when a truck passed us. It was packed to the rafters with firewood, and had a skinned elk on top.


Well, this is north Idaho. What else did you expect?


The driver was a young man, perhaps mid-30's, wearing a plaid flannel shirt, suspenders, and sporting a neatly trimmed beard. He looked friendly and confident, just an ordinary guy providing for his family by bringing home both the firewood and the meat for winter.

Now fast forward to this morning. I'm reading the news online. I saw an article entitled High Heels for Men are On the Rise. Huh? Curious, I clicked on the article and promptly spewed my tea across the keyboard. (Warning: Do NOT continue reading until you've swallowed what's in your mouth.)


According to the article: "[T]he resulting looks are far from the Priscilla Queen of the Desert-esque drag styles that are so often associated with men in heels. Luke Nero, a promoter at Mr Black club in LA, told the New York Times: 'I went to a loft party yesterday, and there was a guy in normal shorts, normal tank and really hot red pumps. That’s it! Everyone was like, "Oh my God, I love those shoes!"'

Oooh, a man in "really hot red pumps." My kind of guy! I expect tomorrow he'll don those fabulous shoes and go hunt for elk and chainsaw some logs for firewood!

Also from the article, no kidding, is this quote: "Sean Wagner, 23, from LA told the paper: 'I never leave the house with less than eight inches on my feet... It helps you see over the cattle.'"

You're telling a country woman who owns cattle...that these heels help you see over the cattle. Sign me up. No, sign my husband up.

A fan of these shoe styles for men assures us, "It’s a power thing. You’re higher than everybody else. You make more sound. You walk a different way. It makes your legs look better."

I've poked fun at fashion before (notably here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). But what can I say? Stuff like this leaves me speechless.

Okay, I lied. It didn't leave me speechless. But I'll simply conclude by saying, I prefer men who look, act, and dress like MEN.

Give me a guy who can tromp through the woods and provide for his family over someone mincing around at a party in eight-inch heels any day.

Gack. Now excuse me, I have to clean my keyboard.

30 comments:

  1. The first thing that comes to mind for me is Monty Python's "The Lumberjack Song"-I always wondered how women wore those things(every woman I asked said they were uncomfortable, but "looked good")-but I have absolutely no intention of finding out for myself. I'm content with the duct tape and Shoe Goo patched shoes I have.

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  2. I was thinking "Patrice forgot to title the article".

    Then I read it. No wonder you didn't title it! :)

    Don in 8" red pumps?
    BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

    I can't wait for his comments on your post.

    Terry
    Florida

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  3. As someone who wore heels for years as part of the corporate uniform, I say let THEM wear heels for a while. lol I decided long ago they were instruments of torture designed by someone who loathed women. So if these yahoos want to wear them, go ahead. I think this "trend" will last as long as it takes for these "men" to incur the physical damage imposed by stilts. I only hope every woman in a mile radius will steer clear.

    All snarkiness aside, you are right, Patrice, these are not real men. My hubby doesn't have to wear flannel, but he enjoys being a man, and I'm so glad he does. What are women supposed to do if all the men start enjoying being women, too?

    Lisa/dragonfly.garden

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  4. kaak on the "men"


    Wondering though -- why did he skin the elk and then drive down the road with it? Here, we normally leave the hide on deer until its butchered.

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  5. Not in my lifetime...my boots are it. Girly boys.

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  6. Check out the history of high heels.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-heeled_footwear

    Long history of men wearing them. It was the movement of function into form; aka it's fashion.

    Yes I think men in high heels looks goofy; but lots of style of yesterday looks odd.

    What gets shaved on the male/female body is right up there with this one. The history is interesting.

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  7. I'm all with you on this ludicrous fashion statement Patrice.
    How can these men find jobs in heels like these?
    Really.
    Who in their right mind would employ a man who walked into work wearing these?
    Risk Management, and certainly OSHA would frown due to the accident potential of some hapless fellow co-worker breaking their jaw when it falls on the counter from the shock alone!
    I really am having a hard time comprehending this unisex, morphing toward womanly attire for men.
    I do not understand this unfulfilled need to flaunt about in public, dressed like a woman who peddles her wares under a street light on the corner for her living.
    It's the least attractive thing a man could do, unless he is trying to attract another man-thing.

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  8. It may be "de rigueur" in their world, but NOT-IN-MINE.

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  9. I live in LA, and this is exactly the kind of nutty stuff that makes me want to live in the country one day with normal people. Or at least, "more normal" people!

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  10. This weekend we taught our son and some of his friends to butcher rabbits. I told them this morning you move from being boys to men that can provide for their families. Funny, none of them wore heals to this lesson.

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  11. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought of Monty Python when I saw this! Gotta rinse my eyes with bleach now. Be right back....


    Steve Davis
    Anchorage, Alaska

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  12. I work in the legal field. Can you imagine what would happen if an attorney appeared in court before a jury wearing high heels!!! Or, say a young woman's parents invited her fiance to dinner and maybe watch a little football later, and the guy shows up in heels. Would love to be a fly on the wall for that one. Give me a "real man" any day.
    Kay

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  13. Stand back.....

    I think I'm gonna hurl.

    Thank God they can't reproduce.

    A. McSp

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  14. You wrote to not proceed if we had something in our mouth. You should have added not to proceed if we had eaten anything in the past hour. This is one of the signs of a society that is well into decline. I'm not sure if I should go was my eyes out, lose my breakfast, or have a beer after looking at that. That was just wrong, on so many levels.

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  15. "You walk a different way." Well, I guess! I don't like it when my DL comes in and stomps across my wood floors with her high heeled boots. Any idiot that wears those deserves all the pain they might develop wearing them.

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  16. I think parts of this country are now beyond all hope!

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  17. "High heels for men are on the rise"? No, these yahoos are definitely NOT "men". As for wearing high heels to work, only if the job allowed it for women, and not many do. As with all other "gay" endeavors, it will be mostly gays who go along with this silliness, and I bet even most of them wouldn't wear them! From what my wife, daughters, sisters, mom and past girl-friends have told me, they're very uncomfortable and even painful to wear for long periods of time. Gay fashion designers need to give it a break!

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  18. I wonder what comes next. Get ready for men in tights, and I don't mean ballet dancers or Robin Hood.

    They're trying to normalize cross-dressing now, starting with footwear. Disgusting.

    Jane

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  19. Phyllis (N/W Jersey)October 19, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    These girly-men are going to be the first ones to go when the %HTF. God help us! Thank heavens I was smart enough to marry a REAL man.

    Let me tell you, after wearing high heels five days a week for 45 years nothing, and I mean nothing, are as comfortable as my lace up work boots!

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  20. lordy, patrice...i just had a hallucenogenic(sp)vision of a bunch of guys wearing stilettos and have gotten stuck on the side of the road ten miles from nowhere...sorry, no room for hitchhikers today! honey (to my passenger) take a picture so the folks at home will know we arent lying to 'em.

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  21. Not that this would be an issue to these...gentlemen?. And I know I am not the most feminine woman in the world, but I want my man to be more "manly" tham I am!

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  22. OK, I snorted too!! My sip of Chardonnay is now all over my keyboard and coffee nor wine feels good flying through one's nose! We all know what it is all about tho, and it is the direction folks are going. I can only imagine if our son (and he wouldn't) showed up in this get-up, my hubby saying, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it".

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  23. MY EYES!! MY EYES!!

    Just Me

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  24. No thanks on the high heels for men. My hubby is a real man, and I have 2 real men in training, ages 16 and 14. Who, just recently, each got a deer, skinned it and brought it in. The family all helped process the deer and now is in our freezer!

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  25. Oh my gosh. This is sooooo good. Still picking myself off the floor. All I can say is that these guys deserve what they get - broken arches, messed up backs and weak ankles - you kno - those things we women figured out in the 40's weren't worth it!!! Hillarious.

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  26. I'm totally with you on this, Patrice. mind you, I think anyone who wears eight inch heels must have a few donkeys loose in the top paddock!

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  27. Back in my 30's and 40's I wore cowboy boots with a 1.75 heel. I am not a cowboy, I don't even like horses, but I found the heals made walking much easier. The heels as shown in your photo are simply stupid. I never liked women in heals like that either, they simply are not practical!

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  28. Good Morning Patrice. I thought you might need another reason to clean your keyboard again. Have you heard about the "Adult" baby who won the right to continue getting Social Security disability checks? Here is a link to this article. So while the rest of us work hard everyday to earn a living...this is what the rest of society feel "entitled" to do. http://gawker.com/5803413/stanley-the-adult-baby-investigated-for-social-security-fraud

    P.S. I want to send you a case of computer cleaner :-)

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  29. Eye bleach rinse worked pretty good. Having wife type this...

    Forget the girly-men.

    I keep going back to the top and wondering about the guy in the pickup truck. Man, what a day he must have had! Out loading wood into his truck when an elk walks by. He pulls the trusty rifle from the gun rack and -BLAM!- food and fuel in one outing! Great Day at the office hun!


    Steve Davis
    Anchorage, Alaska

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  30. Yes, it makes their butt look big. When it hits the fan these folks will quickly be part of the great die off. So sad but it's got to be. No one will look after them when the government fails to step in and save them.

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