shyguy

Sorry to hear about your disappointing meeting, and the idiots who have nothing better to do but heckle other people. At least you all made it there and back safely and met fellow members of the HHPlace.

__________________
He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
Brown's Law: If the shoe fits, it's ugly

Loveshiheels

Wasn,t all bad, me turning up very late didnt help. If I ever go back into London again, I must get myself Sat nav and give myself plently of time. The fetish fair was a complete waste of time but I did meet other members and got to walk in public in heels.

at9

I went to a couple of these fetish fairs a few years ago. Not sure if it was the same organisers - there might have been 2 rival fairs then. The venue was different (I think it was St Pancras town hall) and everything was very pleasant. All very low key and matter-of-fact, a bit like a school bazaar but with stalls selling fetish gear instead of cakes and bric-a-brac. Folks were friendly and encouraged you to try on everything from shoes to corsets. Visitors and stallholders wore anything from t-shirt/jeans to full fetish.

Sounds like it's a pretty poor show now - I won't be too tempted to go again.

euchrid

Crikey. You paint a vivid and depressing picture. Our fellow heelers may never want to leave the safety of their armchairs now!

Always look on the bright side, I say! Anyway, here’s some thoughts from my perspective.

I too was totally under-whelmed by the Fetish Fair event itself.
I thought it was pretty small - quite easy to look round the whole thing within 30 minutes - whereas I'd expected to find something 10 times the size.

The 'demonstrations' that they were having appeared to be taking place in an underground carpark with a single-figure audience! (not that we were interested enough to check them out ourselves either!).

Aside from one girl in a stretchy catsuit, a bloke in a leather skirt and a couple of TV's, the stallholders were all fairly plainly dressed.
Not many visitors entered into the spirit either.
Where was all the rubber, latex and PVC clothing that was supposed to be on show? Short-changed or what? I'd have definitely been happier if there were more fetish fashion / costume-wearing people in there other than ordinary ‘people off the street’. That said, I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable wearing heels there once I’d put them on - maybe the 3 pints of lager had something to do with it!

As FastFreddy says, most of the punters in the place looked like middle-aged geezers out for a lech (as was I of course!). At least we gave them something to look at – probably not what they were hoping for though.

The venue is definitely a good place for a private gathering though. Maybe it could provide an alternative to The Miller one year?

The filming going on didn't phase me at all. I have no interest in appearing in the background of some late night perv-o-vision programme but in view of the 'tameness' of the venue, I didn't think it looked in any way dodgy. We were only sitting down having a beer - not licking strawberry milkshake off a dominatrix’s thigh boots (more’s the pity)

Our flying visit to Camden didn’t add much to the day unfortunately. I have probably been there a bit too often now to find anything interesting about that place. Also, Sunday is the busiest day they have and wading through herds of people to look at exorbitantly-priced plastic shoes was never going to be too enjoyable.

No time was left to get a proper meal either (noodles in a tin-foil tray does not cut it!). I’m sure if we had done that, we would have enjoyed the Camden visit much more - there would have been an opportunity for some people watching and a bit more indoor heel wearing for me.

Yeah, there were loads of people ‘clocking’ the stiletto Mary Jane’s worn by Loveshiheels. I only ever saw looks of amusement and a few nudges & head-nodding going on though – there was no unwelcome attention or ‘negative’ reactions when I was there. At least, I didn’t see or hear any myself. Kudos to Loveshiheels for “going for it” anyway.

In conclusion - Enjoyable but a bit of a disappointment. 5/10. Must try harder.

fastfreddy2

I suggested you didn't wear them because of the terrain. And a little because you weren't that experienced street-healing. [As I understood.] Other than that, I was happy to support/go along with anything you wanted to try.

I think you deserve a medal for (i) walking around the original cobble-stoned venue and (ii) walking around around Camden Lock, both events in stiletto type heels. Definitely a case of "in at the deep end".




Hey!

Who's idea was Camden?


With 20/20 hindsight, we didn't have enough time there arriving close to 4pm, either to indulge ourselves (meal ~ watch the world go by), or acclimatise to a new location. Certainly, having left home at 11.30am, I was stretching my pass-out staying until 5.30pm as it was. [And with it, getting home after the journey back a tad after 6.30pm].


As for depressing, did any of us wish we hadn't gone? We're all a little wiser, and a little more experienced. None of us spent much money (Loveshiheels didn't even buy a drink ).


Another venue, another day?

....

Loveshiheels

I,m glad I went on Sunday and I would still do all again at another venue. Also glad we moved on to Camden and that was also a good experience for me. Never got a chance to buy you a drink, but will do next time.

It might of been my first time steet heeling, But once wore a dress in the night clubs in Benidorm.

Still would like to go to Bluewater or Reading as there a shop that sells larger sized boots and shoes there.

euchrid

Guilty as charged m'lud.

Oh definitely. Count me in for that, when and wherever it may be.

xaphod

.... done the 'Fetish Fair' thing on occasion for years in the mid 90s.

Later, when I was street-heeling, most people at these events were usually amazed that I intended to go shopping in the supermarket on the way home without changing.

Last time I went up to the London Fetish Fair was about '03. I posted it one here and wrote a fairly negative comment about the place being mostly frequented by a bunch of male pervs rustling about the place in their rubber overcoats.

Echoing Kneehighs' comments, I would suggest that fetish clubs don't easily fit the bill for our heeling foray into mainstream society.


Xa

fastfreddy2

Eh?

What was the Porchester gig? I don't remember being pointed at, or the subject of amusement. Ditto the Skin Two gigs.


I think your own experience of this event was more accurate; "the place being mostly frequented by a bunch of male pervs rustling about the place in their rubber overcoats" .... I think little to do with style/fashion statements, and more to do with low-grade sexual tastes.

I'm not at all concerned I'm the subject of some derision by either closet perv's or juvenile delinquents. It's a nuisance and can make me feel uncomfortable for a while, but on balance, nothing I can't cope with.

....

Thighboots2

Gentlefolk,

Well it looks like I'm on my soapbox again, please bear with me whilst I ramble on. Nothing is personal here and my fire extinguisher is ready but it really shouldn't be necessary.

I do agree with Xa and KH, because from my perspective, wearing shoes with heels is not fetish. I wear those in my Avator and no one would ever say they were fetish. Such venues and fairs just harden societies viewpoint that heels (stilettos in particular) when worn by men are just a fetish thing - see the Sun newspaper posting elsewhere on the board.

Xa and I met for lunch a couple of years ago now - we must do that again m8 - both in heels with Xa in a 3/4 length skirt, and we had a pleasant meal without feeling we were something odd.

We really do have to distance ourselves from the fetish scene because it does more harm than good for those of us who just wish to incorporate heels into everyday wear. Just how we can do this excapes me but as the negative always seems to revolve around stiletto heels, then trying to incorporate them into everyday wear seems to me not to be feasable at the current time. It is all about the right shoe for the occasion.

Loveshiheels certainly has what it takes coupled with a thick enough skin to get out there in stiletto Mary Janes, but personally I would have said that these would have been more appropriate for the evening and a pair of 3"ish cuban heels would have been far more in keeping with the activity and not gained the very negative reactions reported (plus would have been easier on the ankle on Camden's cobblestones). I just imagine those who saw him probably thought he was the chap in the Sun newspaper.

Of course, these are my own opinions and I do not decry anyone from wearing what they want, when they want. What I do want is heel wearing by men to become uneventful - an everyday occurance.

We do seem to have a preoccupation with stiletto heels - me included - and I would love to wear them whenever I fancy, but if you want to go out in heels, then for goodness sake don't feed society's prejudices. Society just isn't ready for men in stiletto heels, its barely tolerant (IMHO) of men in heels full stop, but if the whole look is right, then you pass without any comment.

I have worn these heels
(http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/attac...rogue_boot.jpg)
now for over two years every day for shopping, work and so on in the wrong part of London and had no problems whatsoever. This would not be the case if I was trying to do it on Stiletto heels.

It is absolutely essential that you are able to walk in heeled shoes, and I don't mean just a few yards or up and down the garden path, I mean serious distances, because if you struggle in any way, people will notice and soon see your problem and there you go - you'll be laughed at, but worse, you will comfirm society's belief that men can not wear heels.

Off soapbox now.

Be happy

Simon.

__________________
Are you confusing me with someone who gives a damn?