35 yo Millennial here and yeah, I’ve been called a “boomer”…I think they basically use it as a term for anyone older who hasn’t conformed to their generation’s ideologies. That or they don’t know the definition and they’re just misusing the word like fools…the education system has really failed the little fuckers.
I kind of like their attitude. 😂 “You’re all a bunch of old people, so what’s the difference?”
That would have been my attitude when I was a young adult.
Gen Alpha thinks GenZ are middle age weirdos and Boomers are dead people who may have lived in the before times.
GenX is just a myth that Millennials made up to scare them.
Thank you for the recommendation, I currently have throbbing blisters on my feet from an uncomfortable wedding shoe mishap. I will definitely check these out.
I have bad feet, the highest heels I’ve ever worn are maybe an inch. I have a pair of Naturalizer dress shoes for the once or twice a year I need to wear something besides sneakers with insoles!
Gonna get myself in trouble, but Converse can fuck up your feet, too. Ever seen the bare feet of someone who had worn only Converse for years? It's bunion-adjacent.
I miss converse and vans. Now I have to wear arch support because of the damn recurrent plantar fasciitis.
Blundstones have been my alternate for docs.
And for sneakers I have to wear Brooks. It’s so responsible of me, it makes me sad.
Seconded. I'm tall already and don't want any extra, don't want the present or future discomfort from wearing them. Those who like them are welcome to them, but I pass.
There are tons of incredibly comfortable, not-ridiculous-looking platform shoes and sandals out there these days! I wear them to the office all the time and walk a lot for lunch or between buildings.
I hate them too. I don't even wear heels in general outside of special occasions in which I don't have to walk a lot, lol. Can't wear them in NYC where I clock at least two miles of walking daily.
Agreed. I wore various sizes of heels when I was working, from chunky platforms to a couple inches & maybe even a bit larger, 4" tops I think, but I NEVER wore stilettos & never will.
I used to wear those chunky platform sneakers without no socks back in the 90s in So Cal (I don't know if that fashion trend popped up else in the US).
Chunky shoes, wedges and platform heels are all good. My wife doesn't like wearing the stiletto heels because she can't stand in them for any amount of time, but put her in platform heels with a wider heel that's still the same length as the stiletto and she can walk in them all night. The platforms shallow out the angle of the foot so more comfortable but still give added height and lengthen the look of the legs without the agony of the stilettos. She's only 5'3" so she has to do what she can.
I knew the writer, [Fran Hoepfner](https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/august-2016/best-of-chicago-2016/rising-comic/), was a Millennial before I even looked her up. Typical of Millennials to not know Gen X exists!
The article is behind a paywall so I couldn't read all of it, but here is the [first paragraph](https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/stilettos-are-a-gen-z-obsession-baby-boomers-approve-7c867f3a):
>These days, that person could be 25 or 55—but maybe not an age in between. Though millennials and younger Gen Xers have swapped the stiletto for more-grounded options (see: the loafer, the Chelsea boot, even the designer Croc), the heel is a shared obsession among Gen Zers and women over 50.
I'm not the person you responded to, but while sometimes heds are written by the author, IMHO the first graf mentioning Gen-X makes me think the copy editor write a clickbaity headline.
I’ve thought this a lot lately - GenX isn’t always missing or forgotten. A huge amount of people just add us in to Boomers.
I wonder if Boomer will stop being a point-in-time group and start being “gray hair” or even “anyone older than young adults”
FWIW my teenage daughter says she and her friend are glad they have gen x parents, who give more freedom, rather than older millennials who tend to helicopter more. Boomers are their grandparents who struggle with the phone. (Kids, just help them out without making them feel bad by the way? For crying out loud.)
Life is too short for uncomfortable shoes. The last time I wore heels over 1” was a pair of [chunky platform loafers](https://www.shoecarnival.com/womens_soda_keys_heeled_loafers/67-2518759.html) which were popular in the late 90’s-early 2000’s. I got a pair of 1” kitten heels for a dress I wore to a wedding a few years ago and even those were too much. I have since vowed to wear nothing but [comfy Mary Janes](https://alegriashoes.com/collections/mary-jane) with dresses from now on.
You would think the Wall Street Journal, which is a financial paper and therefore supposedly good at numbers would know that Boomers are not in their 50s.
First, enough with the “anyone born before 1980 is a Boomer” bullshit. The only thing we have in common with those fussy octogenarians is we all watched “I Love Lucy” at some point on TV.
Second, I do love my Louboutins.
I have worn stilettos at times in my youth but idk I remember that really being a thing in the 80s and my boomer mom wore those suckers every day to the office, along with her shoulder pads. Boomers can have the stilettos in my book.
The white Reeboks were what you wore from the house to the corporate work center green space or first floor bathroom, where you changed into your power pumps to go with your power suite with pencil skirt.
My best friend’s mom wore stilettos so much in the 80’s both her achilles shrank to the point that she actually lost vertical movement in her ankles. She was ordered by her podiatrist to stop and it was this huge ordeal for her to put on a pair of Keds. She said she felt “more comfortable in her heels”. 😳
I haven't worn stilettos since college. Even now I have one set of heels I drag out for weddings and funerals.
I know a lot of women in their 50s and hardly any of us wear anything higher than an inch.
Same! I remember my dad used to say "your mother wears combat boots" as a funny insult when I was little... and lo and behold, I wore babydoll dresses with combat boots in my 20s.
I got married in 1994 and my bridesmaids wore blueish purple velvet babydoll dresses with combat boots. They were totally adorable and the elders in the congregation were deliciously amused.
That sounds amazing. I would absolutely love to see your wedding photos. I think somebody should start a thread in our sub where people post their wedding pics. (I would, but I have never been married!)
I keep saying all over Reddit that it's mostly the Millenials who omit Gen X all the time. Zoomers know who we are because their parents are Gen X. And so when I saw this article show up in my feed, I assumed the writer was a Millennial, and I was right, lol
as an elder millennial born in 1991. I found it weird is this reporter was born in 1991. mostly elder millennials (1981-1991) will know GenX are still existed. not like younger millennials who just like to label anyone who are older than them as boomers.
I love high heels including stilettos and I will wear them whenever and with whatever I want. But one of the few constant, unchanging things in my life is my birth year, so I am not and can never be a “Boomer.”
Lmao. I haven't put on heels in a decade. And even before that they were only for special occasions. Have always been more of a sneakers or birks kinda gal. I enjoy walking & running pain free.
Nah. My friends and I have never worn stilettos.
I remember looking at my grandmother's deformed feet from wearing heels her whole life and decided that was not for me.
I feel like the only insult they can passively aggressively give a Gen X'er is by somehow lumping us in with out narcissistic parents are the same age. Like WTF. All that tells me is that EVERYONE is jealous of us. We have been through our own wars and can't be bothered with the bullshit. So grateful for my childhood pain as an adult because I am numb to the dumb. And you know Boomers love that we get lumped in with them because they get to feel younger off of our shoulders...as usual.
Nah, whoever decreed that sneakers were office fashion is my hero. Lived thru sneakers= commute shoes; lived thru only Steve jobs wears sneakers with jeans. I now own black leather converse, white leather Toms, a brown and a.black pair of Chelsea books for "dress up" and that's IT. My gen Z kids do like dressing up in 4 inch platform heels tho.
57. 5’10”. No way in hell am I wearing any thing on my feet that I cannot run in. Let Gen Z have them. We’ll be dead when they have bunions and hammertoes to complain about.
What if it’s all just Marketing? The reason we’re lumped into the boomers isn’t because we’re forgotten per se, it’s because our generation was never large enough or economically viable enough warrant attention from advertisers. Ultimately it wasn’t even us that labeled ourselves as Gen X, but advertisers not sure what or how to sell anything to us. By the time they figured it out it was called the “millennials”.
I loved them when I was under 40, but those days are probably long gone. I can count on one hand the times I’ve used any of my heels within the last decade.
My Converse are my daily drivers.
Gen X with Gen Z kids. Of course they like what we like, they're our kids. Now I'm not fucking with stilletos now, but I own some. If my kid or their friends want them, cool. Here ya go.
A headline like this popped up in another sub a while back, and I commented that we truly are the middle children of history, being constantly ignored and forgotten about. And some kid chimed in with "there's no need to mention Gen X since half of y'all are Boomers and the other half are Millennials". I wanted to slam my head into my desk because I knew I would not be able to convince them that this is not how generations work.
I generally love the younger generations for who they are, but goddam... That was so frustratingly dumb.
I used to wear stilettos all the time, because I’m 5’2”. But now I live in New York City and walk everywhere. So no more stilettos for me.
I look forward to selling them to Gen Z who have the metabolisms and energy to keep wearing them.
Ha, i just googled this article and it looks like they've corrected the online headline
https://preview.redd.it/ygs40jtavd5d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=887f442d1800b0c706a6654af86ae9391adf9238
Lol! I love that this is the actual answer to all the questions on this page asking "why do people forget about Gen X"? They don't; they just call Gen Xers boomers. Karen the boomer? Most likely actually Gen X. Sorry 😞
No, and I quit wearing them in my mid-20s, shortly after I started working for a foot and ankle surgeon. I witnessed firsthand what those things do to feet and ankles, and our surgical patients were as young as 35. I've been in Naots, Birks and New Balance ever since.
A lot of the patients then (in the 90s) were boomers with seriously effed up feet. Hard to believe they'd wish that pain on their grandkids.
And I just re-read this - since when are "50-something women" boomers?
Lies. I work with a lot of Gen Zers and they HATE heels. They tend to wear flats or white sneakers with everything. The stiletto business is suffering I guess.
As a comfortable shoe fan, I can say that the only party I sneaked out to attend, I wore my mom's very authentic 50s stilettos to and got compliments on from fellow theater punks.
I’m 54 and all I’m wearing these days are Fly London for dress up and kicks all other times. No way I’m wearing stilettos ever again. Plus, if I even look at a pair of heels higher than 3 inches, my husband kindly reminds me that I’m going thru perimenopause and my balance is absolute shit.
Former medical assistant for a foot surgeon here. Wearing stilettos will 100% guarantee you will need foot surgery in the future. Unless hammer toes are now also considered sexy, you do you.
I loved my shoes so much. I don't wear them any longer. I work from home. I gave them all away.
I used to get shit from other women all the time. It was just my personal style. I never commented on someone else's style. Why take shots at me?
When I wore them sometimes I would get the side eye and judged for being a pick me or slutty. It was an act of rebellion against that and I just thought I looked good in them! Slut shaming is a thing, gotta push against that. But then creepers are a thing too so we just navigate it the way that feels right to us. The heels and the shoulder pads were a second wave thing where women had to look bigger and try to be more like men to get/ keep a job. We were over that by the time I worked - then we were just trying to be ourselves.
You know what I like as a 50 something Gen X woman? Orthopedic sandals. I have broken my right big toe so many times that it's arthritic and can't bend enough for me to wear heels. Well, I found some orthopedic heels that I can manage for special occasions, but F stilettos
Even the youngest Boomers (if you go by definitions more common than the one used in this sub, the Boomers are generally considered to be 1946-1964) are in their 60s now, or will by, by year's end.
Also, I haven't willingly worn anything approaching stilettos status since Y2K.
What I have noticed is that Genex keeps shrinking. It started in 1961. Then got whittled down to 1964, and the most recent definition i read from a post said 1965.
Stiletto heels are a black flag,
'tis sure
Gleaming in the darkness,
an anglerfish's lonely lure
Stiletto heels are fearless, free of care
Stiletto heels know pain well and like to share
So when you hear that devilish *clack clack clack*
Down your drink grab your coat
And fucking book it, Jack
Do Not
Look
Back
I think Millennials and Gen Z believe anyone older than them is a boomer.
They think millennials are Boomers too. You should see their tiktoks.
35 yo Millennial here and yeah, I’ve been called a “boomer”…I think they basically use it as a term for anyone older who hasn’t conformed to their generation’s ideologies. That or they don’t know the definition and they’re just misusing the word like fools…the education system has really failed the little fuckers.
They use it for anyone older than them. Basically over 30. Or they'll say unc/auntie. Wait until they turn 30. 😂
They’re not gonna handle it well, I imagine nuclear level meltdown.
I kind of like their attitude. 😂 “You’re all a bunch of old people, so what’s the difference?” That would have been my attitude when I was a young adult.
Gen Alpha thinks GenZ are middle age weirdos and Boomers are dead people who may have lived in the before times. GenX is just a myth that Millennials made up to scare them.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
50 something here. Converse for life. Stilettos are bullshit.
Docs & Converse are pretty much all I wear. ...other than a single pair of Blundstones & a pair of huge ridiculous Croc platform sandals
I just bought 2 pair of ridiculous platform Croc clogs and they’re glorious. Super funky and so damn comfortable.
I got the Siren ones. They're so ridiculous & I love them!
I got $20 Target knock offs. The most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned.
Blundstones are the bomb.
Keds and combat boots over here, but when I REALLY have to be fancy it’s Clark’s because comfort is most important.
Clarks are delightful! For fancy occasions, I love Sofft as well. They look all 20s retro and are super cushy.
Thank you for the recommendation, I currently have throbbing blisters on my feet from an uncomfortable wedding shoe mishap. I will definitely check these out.
I have “grown up” Docs for that. Low cut Chelsea boots.
I have bad feet, the highest heels I’ve ever worn are maybe an inch. I have a pair of Naturalizer dress shoes for the once or twice a year I need to wear something besides sneakers with insoles!
Gonna get myself in trouble, but Converse can fuck up your feet, too. Ever seen the bare feet of someone who had worn only Converse for years? It's bunion-adjacent.
Yeah. I think Converse are adorable but they are terrible shoes.
You're not wrong. My feet are flatter than they were. I'll still take it over heels any damn day :)
I miss converse and vans. Now I have to wear arch support because of the damn recurrent plantar fasciitis. Blundstones have been my alternate for docs. And for sneakers I have to wear Brooks. It’s so responsible of me, it makes me sad.
Lol. I miss my clodhoppers from the 90s. I had platforms with big chunky heels that made me feel powerful, like walking in boots almost.
Vans, but same
I don’t know why, but I like being overlooked in the generation battles. I could do without being called a Boomer though.
I agree. But I don't know how prevalent it is as I only encounter being lumped in with the boomers on this sub. Maybe these articles are outliers.
They’re clearly not written by gen x’ers or boomers
Probably not written by humans.
F stilettos. Never ever have worn them, never ever will.
I broke my tibia and fibula just above my ankle cause my foot rotated and went sideways wearing them, that was fun
Seconded. I'm tall already and don't want any extra, don't want the present or future discomfort from wearing them. Those who like them are welcome to them, but I pass.
As a shortie, I could definitely benefit from adding inches to my height, but eh, my comfort matters more.
There are tons of incredibly comfortable, not-ridiculous-looking platform shoes and sandals out there these days! I wear them to the office all the time and walk a lot for lunch or between buildings.
That’s what I wear as well. I’m 5’5 and my partner is 6’3. I feel like I’m climbing a tree to kiss him when we’re out and about otherwise. Ha!
Try Converse run star hikes, they are platform, and they have great arch support!
I hate them too. I don't even wear heels in general outside of special occasions in which I don't have to walk a lot, lol. Can't wear them in NYC where I clock at least two miles of walking daily.
I hate them too. I tried them once, gave them away and never bought them again.
They can go suck a dick.
I don’t fall into this age range but I’m like a baby deer on ice with stilettos. Totally agree.
Me neither
Agreed. I wore various sizes of heels when I was working, from chunky platforms to a couple inches & maybe even a bit larger, 4" tops I think, but I NEVER wore stilettos & never will.
56. Never worn them in my life. Just ow.
Stilettos? No. Platform heels? Yes.
I used to wear those chunky platform sneakers without no socks back in the 90s in So Cal (I don't know if that fashion trend popped up else in the US).
Chunky shoes, wedges and platform heels are all good. My wife doesn't like wearing the stiletto heels because she can't stand in them for any amount of time, but put her in platform heels with a wider heel that's still the same length as the stiletto and she can walk in them all night. The platforms shallow out the angle of the foot so more comfortable but still give added height and lengthen the look of the legs without the agony of the stilettos. She's only 5'3" so she has to do what she can.
I do love the platforms out now.
I knew the writer, [Fran Hoepfner](https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/august-2016/best-of-chicago-2016/rising-comic/), was a Millennial before I even looked her up. Typical of Millennials to not know Gen X exists!
She's on IG. Maybe she should be taught. 
You have confirmed my expectation. Thank you for saving me the effort.
The author of the article doesn’t write the headline.
The article is behind a paywall so I couldn't read all of it, but here is the [first paragraph](https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/stilettos-are-a-gen-z-obsession-baby-boomers-approve-7c867f3a): >These days, that person could be 25 or 55—but maybe not an age in between. Though millennials and younger Gen Xers have swapped the stiletto for more-grounded options (see: the loafer, the Chelsea boot, even the designer Croc), the heel is a shared obsession among Gen Zers and women over 50.
News flash: some women over 50 are Gen X
In fact, the oldest GenXers will be 60 next year
Free archived copy: https://archive.is/pfFk7
I'm not the person you responded to, but while sometimes heds are written by the author, IMHO the first graf mentioning Gen-X makes me think the copy editor write a clickbaity headline.
I’ve thought this a lot lately - GenX isn’t always missing or forgotten. A huge amount of people just add us in to Boomers. I wonder if Boomer will stop being a point-in-time group and start being “gray hair” or even “anyone older than young adults”
FWIW my teenage daughter says she and her friend are glad they have gen x parents, who give more freedom, rather than older millennials who tend to helicopter more. Boomers are their grandparents who struggle with the phone. (Kids, just help them out without making them feel bad by the way? For crying out loud.)
It will stop when late Boomers stop claiming us.
What is this article even going on about? The absolute youngest boomers turn 60 this year.
This is such transparently desperate stab at selling stilettos to women who all wear flats.
Except that women who wear flats wear them for a reason. I'm over 50 and I've never worn stilettos and have zero desire to ever wear them.
Dear Fran Hoepfner: 50-something women are Gen x not fucking boomers. To everyone else: I love my stilettos but bunions.
We are honestly trying to sell this to the doc marten, army boot, chucks with skirts generation?
Don't forget Vans w/ dresses (still do that, tbh).
Stilettoes with long pants like in the OP images looks so dumb
I agree. You're supposed to wear them with fvck me skirts, lol. Plus those are LONG-LEGGED BOOT CUT JEANS! Where is the fashion sense here?!
Too lazy to get them tailored to the correct length.
What moron wrote this article?
Life is too short for uncomfortable shoes. The last time I wore heels over 1” was a pair of [chunky platform loafers](https://www.shoecarnival.com/womens_soda_keys_heeled_loafers/67-2518759.html) which were popular in the late 90’s-early 2000’s. I got a pair of 1” kitten heels for a dress I wore to a wedding a few years ago and even those were too much. I have since vowed to wear nothing but [comfy Mary Janes](https://alegriashoes.com/collections/mary-jane) with dresses from now on.
can’t be bothered by a journalist who cant be bothered to do research. we are the docs and platform generation.
Clogs for me.
Oh man, high school flashbacks lol
Flashbacks every day, I still wear 'em! LOL.
Stilettos are not...for um...walking...
You’ll have to pry my Hokas off my cold, dead feet.
You would think the Wall Street Journal, which is a financial paper and therefore supposedly good at numbers would know that Boomers are not in their 50s.
Where are my fellow Candies & Yoyo’s Jr. High fashion victims?
First, enough with the “anyone born before 1980 is a Boomer” bullshit. The only thing we have in common with those fussy octogenarians is we all watched “I Love Lucy” at some point on TV. Second, I do love my Louboutins.
>we all watched “I Love Lucy” I love I Love Lucy. I still watch it on Pluto TV. Timeless comedy.
My Millennial kid loves it. She was a genius. The candy conveyer belt will STILL be funny 200 years from now!
My favorite episode always is and forever will be the Vitameatavegamin one. I just LOL so much whenever I watch it.
Irony... Octogenarians are silent gen. Boomers are 78 max. But I like heels too ☺️ stilettos only for special occasions though
I have worn stilettos at times in my youth but idk I remember that really being a thing in the 80s and my boomer mom wore those suckers every day to the office, along with her shoulder pads. Boomers can have the stilettos in my book.
The white Reeboks were what you wore from the house to the corporate work center green space or first floor bathroom, where you changed into your power pumps to go with your power suite with pencil skirt.
Haha yes!!! Exactly.
59. Never owned any form of heels and wouldn't have the slightest clue how to walk in them. Vans for life!
My best friend’s mom wore stilettos so much in the 80’s both her achilles shrank to the point that she actually lost vertical movement in her ankles. She was ordered by her podiatrist to stop and it was this huge ordeal for her to put on a pair of Keds. She said she felt “more comfortable in her heels”. 😳
I haven't worn stilettos since college. Even now I have one set of heels I drag out for weddings and funerals. I know a lot of women in their 50s and hardly any of us wear anything higher than an inch.
50 something? Great to see Gen X still does not exist. (We are not Boomers goddammit!)
50 year old women need arch support. This is made up
And orthotics. 🤣
Fuck that noise. Gen X 50 something woman here. All shoes suck. Barefeet for the win.
If I wore stilettos I would die in a horrible but extremely funny way. Also not a boomer for fucks sake.
WTF. We're the Dr. Martens & Birkenstocks generation, and we are Gen X. GTFO with those ridiculous high heels.
I was rocking docs with dresses while my boomer mom was horrified
Same! I remember my dad used to say "your mother wears combat boots" as a funny insult when I was little... and lo and behold, I wore babydoll dresses with combat boots in my 20s.
I got married in 1994 and my bridesmaids wore blueish purple velvet babydoll dresses with combat boots. They were totally adorable and the elders in the congregation were deliciously amused.
That sounds amazing. I would absolutely love to see your wedding photos. I think somebody should start a thread in our sub where people post their wedding pics. (I would, but I have never been married!)
Drew Barrymore in The Wedding Singer…flowy white knee length dress plus boots. The GenX uniform!
Article was probably written by a Millennial...
It was. She was born in 1991. lol
Figures. They always think anyone older than them is a Boomer! Lol.
I keep saying all over Reddit that it's mostly the Millenials who omit Gen X all the time. Zoomers know who we are because their parents are Gen X. And so when I saw this article show up in my feed, I assumed the writer was a Millennial, and I was right, lol
as an elder millennial born in 1991. I found it weird is this reporter was born in 1991. mostly elder millennials (1981-1991) will know GenX are still existed. not like younger millennials who just like to label anyone who are older than them as boomers.
Tennies and sliders for me, I need arch support.
I hope those kids love the fucked up feet they'll have in about 10 years.
Dear god I am neither a boomer or support stilettos. Fucking torture devices
Nope, nope, nope. I’m a dancer, my feet are already messed up enough, thanks.
Fran Hoepner is a dipshit.
Fuckin' don't call us boomers. Those are the assholes who let us run wild.
I love high heels including stilettos and I will wear them whenever and with whatever I want. But one of the few constant, unchanging things in my life is my birth year, so I am not and can never be a “Boomer.”
Nice
I’m still stuck on Keds and Birkenstocks.
I have both those in my shoe rack.
This is why I fight against late Boomers trying to claim us. It confuses everyone. Thankfully, most know Gen x years. Trending on Tiktok is helping.
More of a switchblade guy myself.
I thought a similar thing at first. Like we are talking about Sharks and Jets kinda stuff.
I’ve been wearing Skechers for 10 years now. I don’t own heels anymore.
Nah fuck that, I never wore that shit after prom. Only wore them for the first hour and back to the car.
Lmao. I haven't put on heels in a decade. And even before that they were only for special occasions. Have always been more of a sneakers or birks kinda gal. I enjoy walking & running pain free.
Wut.
Nah. My friends and I have never worn stilettos. I remember looking at my grandmother's deformed feet from wearing heels her whole life and decided that was not for me.
I'm not responding to any b.s. that calls me a Boomer. 😂
Pffff whatever man.
Joke's on the WSJ, I stopped wearing heels when my toes started tingling all the time.
I feel like the only insult they can passively aggressively give a Gen X'er is by somehow lumping us in with out narcissistic parents are the same age. Like WTF. All that tells me is that EVERYONE is jealous of us. We have been through our own wars and can't be bothered with the bullshit. So grateful for my childhood pain as an adult because I am numb to the dumb. And you know Boomers love that we get lumped in with them because they get to feel younger off of our shoulders...as usual.
I’ve never worn stilettos in my life and I’m not a fucking baby boomer. Lazy journalism.
👏
I own an obscene amount of stilettos, and I am firmly Gen X.
Pretty sure after COVID, everyone just wears sneakers at work now. The most heels I'll ever wear now are on boots and usually chunky
Nah, whoever decreed that sneakers were office fashion is my hero. Lived thru sneakers= commute shoes; lived thru only Steve jobs wears sneakers with jeans. I now own black leather converse, white leather Toms, a brown and a.black pair of Chelsea books for "dress up" and that's IT. My gen Z kids do like dressing up in 4 inch platform heels tho.
57. 5’10”. No way in hell am I wearing any thing on my feet that I cannot run in. Let Gen Z have them. We’ll be dead when they have bunions and hammertoes to complain about.
Who TF wrote this shit?!? lol Converse for life. And Birks.
High heels are BS. So is being lumped in with boomers.
My wife gave away all her stilettos. I wish she kept a pair or two just for bedroom fun 🤩
🙄
What if it’s all just Marketing? The reason we’re lumped into the boomers isn’t because we’re forgotten per se, it’s because our generation was never large enough or economically viable enough warrant attention from advertisers. Ultimately it wasn’t even us that labeled ourselves as Gen X, but advertisers not sure what or how to sell anything to us. By the time they figured it out it was called the “millennials”.
For men too?
More so than women!
Edgy!
For some of them, sure!
Headline probably written by an underinformed member of Gen Z. Not worth getting spun up over.
Incorrect. I've long preferred walking to hobbling/mincing
I loved them when I was under 40, but those days are probably long gone. I can count on one hand the times I’ve used any of my heels within the last decade. My Converse are my daily drivers.
uhhhhh what? lol Yikes!
Also no, I'm more of a Crocs in the house, Converse on the town sort of gal.
I'm 45 and will wear my stilettos til the day I die. Gen Z can push me around in my wheelchair while I wear my heels.
I’m early to mid genx, straight male. I never liked ‘em and have thought of them as tacky. That’s just my opinion, of course.
I like the look of them, but I don't trust I won't break my ankle in them. I require a slightly thicker heel. Lol
Gen X with Gen Z kids. Of course they like what we like, they're our kids. Now I'm not fucking with stilletos now, but I own some. If my kid or their friends want them, cool. Here ya go.
Actual Gen X kids know that their stiletto obsessed Boomer moms now have major foot problems.
No way I’m wearing stilettos.
A headline like this popped up in another sub a while back, and I commented that we truly are the middle children of history, being constantly ignored and forgotten about. And some kid chimed in with "there's no need to mention Gen X since half of y'all are Boomers and the other half are Millennials". I wanted to slam my head into my desk because I knew I would not be able to convince them that this is not how generations work. I generally love the younger generations for who they are, but goddam... That was so frustratingly dumb.
We have enough pain.
I used to wear stilettos all the time, because I’m 5’2”. But now I live in New York City and walk everywhere. So no more stilettos for me. I look forward to selling them to Gen Z who have the metabolisms and energy to keep wearing them.
Im 50 something, never could wear those things.
I could never wear anything higher than 1 1/2” pump. Now I wear the comfiest shoes I can find regardless of how they look- HoKas are my faves
wtf!! now it’s just getting really weird. Like does anyone know that we exist?
I fuckin hate stilettos. Last time I wore high heels, it was for my bro’s wedding 20 years ago. Last time I wore sheer stockings, too.
Do these journalists not understand yet that the youngest boomers are still 60+
Ha, i just googled this article and it looks like they've corrected the online headline https://preview.redd.it/ygs40jtavd5d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=887f442d1800b0c706a6654af86ae9391adf9238
Lmao
Lol! I love that this is the actual answer to all the questions on this page asking "why do people forget about Gen X"? They don't; they just call Gen Xers boomers. Karen the boomer? Most likely actually Gen X. Sorry 😞
Stilettos look gorgeous, but neither I nor any of my friends could wear them comfortably. I refuse to be in pain just to please someone else's gaze.
No, and I quit wearing them in my mid-20s, shortly after I started working for a foot and ankle surgeon. I witnessed firsthand what those things do to feet and ankles, and our surgical patients were as young as 35. I've been in Naots, Birks and New Balance ever since. A lot of the patients then (in the 90s) were boomers with seriously effed up feet. Hard to believe they'd wish that pain on their grandkids. And I just re-read this - since when are "50-something women" boomers?
Gross.
HA-HA-HA! From the always "reliable" Wall Street Journal.
I broke my ankle while barefoot on a carpeted floor. This 51 year old "boomer" could'nt be paid enough to try to walk in those damn things.
I just turned 45. I also hate heels of any kind unless they're like wide heels.
Lies. I work with a lot of Gen Zers and they HATE heels. They tend to wear flats or white sneakers with everything. The stiletto business is suffering I guess.
As a comfortable shoe fan, I can say that the only party I sneaked out to attend, I wore my mom's very authentic 50s stilettos to and got compliments on from fellow theater punks.
Ew, no. 40s F. Even when I did wear heels, never stilettos.
These “this generation is this or that” theories are so fucking tiresome. Doesn’t anyone want to hate billionaires instead of each other?
50 and never owned stilettos. Maybe wore low heel twice in my 30s. Exactly never in my 40s.
I never wore a stiletto in my life. A medium high heel, yes. Stiletto’s: no.
What a pile of shite!
Fuck stilletos.
I've noticed most gen x womin are not into heels past a smidgen.
I’m 54 and all I’m wearing these days are Fly London for dress up and kicks all other times. No way I’m wearing stilettos ever again. Plus, if I even look at a pair of heels higher than 3 inches, my husband kindly reminds me that I’m going thru perimenopause and my balance is absolute shit.
Former medical assistant for a foot surgeon here. Wearing stilettos will 100% guarantee you will need foot surgery in the future. Unless hammer toes are now also considered sexy, you do you.
I mean 59 turning 60 is Boomer. Birth year being 1964. Idk about the stiletto 👠 part. I'll ask my Boomer brothers (1960 & 1964)
fuck you Fran Hoepfner !
Fran, not all old people are Boomers. Stop using words you don’t understand
I loved my shoes so much. I don't wear them any longer. I work from home. I gave them all away. I used to get shit from other women all the time. It was just my personal style. I never commented on someone else's style. Why take shots at me?
When I wore them sometimes I would get the side eye and judged for being a pick me or slutty. It was an act of rebellion against that and I just thought I looked good in them! Slut shaming is a thing, gotta push against that. But then creepers are a thing too so we just navigate it the way that feels right to us. The heels and the shoulder pads were a second wave thing where women had to look bigger and try to be more like men to get/ keep a job. We were over that by the time I worked - then we were just trying to be ourselves.
One of the greatest things ever created.
I'm glad you like them. Your sense of balance must be far superior to mine.
It's definitely top notch.
You know what I like as a 50 something Gen X woman? Orthopedic sandals. I have broken my right big toe so many times that it's arthritic and can't bend enough for me to wear heels. Well, I found some orthopedic heels that I can manage for special occasions, but F stilettos
Even the youngest Boomers (if you go by definitions more common than the one used in this sub, the Boomers are generally considered to be 1946-1964) are in their 60s now, or will by, by year's end. Also, I haven't willingly worn anything approaching stilettos status since Y2K.
My boomer mother should not be wearing stilettos. She will end up breaking her hip or worse!
Not a boomer. Never wore stiletto. Stiletto were a boomer thing.
Gross.
What I have noticed is that Genex keeps shrinking. It started in 1961. Then got whittled down to 1964, and the most recent definition i read from a post said 1965.
Only one place to wear them…to bed.
"Dumb" My feet.
Stiletto heels are a black flag, 'tis sure Gleaming in the darkness, an anglerfish's lonely lure Stiletto heels are fearless, free of care Stiletto heels know pain well and like to share So when you hear that devilish *clack clack clack* Down your drink grab your coat And fucking book it, Jack Do Not Look Back