Guide to heels

If you’re obsessed with heels as much as I am, you might find this post super useful. I have organised them into a kind of logical order. If you think that I may have missed a heel type, you might find that it is just a variations of the one’s in the grid below.

Note: This is an unofficial list. The names may vary across suppliers/countries and there doesn’t always seem to be an international standard so I have been slightly creative with the naming.

Note: This is a guide for cross dressers to help them discover heels and decide which heels to buy. Start by clicking on an image below to see a bigger image, plus some have links to a 3D version, so you can explore that style further.

Main materials

It’s important to also understand the different materials and finishes used, too. When it comes to black heels, the main materials and fabrics are as follows.

Leather
Patent Leather
Faux Leather
Latex
PVC
Rubber
Suede
Satin Fabric

Main colours

As for the colours, the main ones seem to be these:

Black
Matte Black
Black Patent
White
Red
Wine Red
Crimson Red
Burgundy
Blue
Purple
Pink
Hot Pink
Strong Pink
Fuchsia
Rose
Magenta
Brown Tan
Coffee Brown
Chocolate Brown
Beige
Nude
Apricot
Yellow
Orange
Green
Dark Green
Teal
Gray
Gold
Silver

Effects/finishes

Obviously heels come in different material finishes, colour shades and styles. Here are the common ones that I have encountered.

Shiny
Matte
Sparkly
Rhinestone
Snake Skin
Leopard Print
Tiger Print
Zebra Print
Crocodile Print
Irridescent
Clear
Studded
Suede
Denim

Fastenings

Here I have identified all the different types of heel fastenings. Most, if not all, are just variations or a combination of the below fastening types.

Slip-on
Strap
Lace-up
Laced
Zip-up
Buckled
Clasped
Lockable

Heel height table

When buying heels, I generally use this table as a rough mental guide when choosing heel height, depending on the level of comfort that I want to have. I also keep in mind whether or not the pair are platform heels because this adds general height but not only heel height.

I also consider the heel pointiness/thickness, which can vary between: very sharp, normal, large and then anything up to having a full block heel. I personally prefer normal sized pointiness because when they’re too pointy they can be too hard to walk in (or easy to fall in).

Heel height	Heel height (cm / inch)	Ability to walk in	Comfort
Very Small	3 cm / 1.18”	Very Easy	Very Comfortable
Small	6 cm / 2.36”	Medium	Fairly Comfortable
Regular	9 cm / 3.54”	Hard	Less Comfortable
High	12 cm / 4.72”	Very Hard	Uncomfortable
Very High	15 cm / 5.90”	Too High!	Extreme!
Extreme	18 cm / 7.01”	Cannot walk in them!	Too Extreme!

International shoe size table

Note: These are adult women’s sizes. Men’s sizing tables differ, but for choosing your female size on this chart always go 1 or 2 sizes larger than your normal male shoe size. For example, if you are EU 44 men’s then choose at least EU 45 women’s. Having said that, it is always best in my experience to use the centimetre measurements as these are more accurate, then go 1 size above.

For example, I am 28.7 cm and I can sometimes fit into EU 46, but EU 47 is more comfortable, especially for boots.

Shoe size cm	Inches	EU	UK	US	AU	BR	JP	MX
22.8	8.98	35	2.5	5	3.5	33	21	-
23.5	9.25	36	3.5	6	4.5	34	22	-
23.8	9.37	37	4	6.5	5	35	22.5	-
24.5	9.65	38	5	7.5	6	36	23.5	4.5
25.1	9.89	39	6	8.5	7	37	24.5	5.5
25.4	10.00	40	6.5	9	7.5	38	25	6
25.7	10.12	41	7	9.5	8	39	25.5	6.5
26.0	10.24	42	7.5	10	8.5	40	26	7
26.7	10.51	43	8	10.5	9	41	27	7.5
27.3	10.74	44	9.5	12	10.5	42	28	9
27.9	10.98	45	10.5	13	11.5	43	29	10
28.5	11.22	46	11	13.5	12	44	29.5	10.5
29.2	11.50	47	11.5	14	13	45	30.5	11.5
29.9	11.77	48	12	14.5	13.5	46	31	12

How to measure yourself (for cross dressers)

There’s a measuring guide here that might be useful.

However, on some sites, such as AliExpress, a lot of suppliers seem to use this chart:

Heels measurement chart

Measurement	Part of body	My measurements for reference (cm)
Measurement 1	Shaft length	84
Measurement 2	Open girth	56
Measurement 3	Calf girth	41
Measurement 4	Ankle girth	27
Measurement 5	Top of foot to heal (around) - a.k.a. “Vamp to Seat” measurement	38
Measurement 6	Height of foot (around) - a.k.a. “Vamp to Ball” measurement	30
The following measurements are all feet measurements
Measurement 7.1	Exact heel to toe length	28.7 = Size EU 46
Measurement 7.2	Estimated tight fit - only wearable if open toe shoes	Size EU 45
Measurement 7.3	Normal fit, rounded up a few mm.	29.0 = Size EU 46-47
Measurement 7.4	Extra comfortable, additional 3mm.	29.3 = Size EU 47

Some additional things to consider when measuring your feet

When you measure your feet you will find that both are slightly different lengths, so take the larger length. Also, round-up your sizing, so if you have 28.7cm like me, you will be minimum EU 46.
Consider the width of your feet as this can affect whether or not you can fit into certain types of shoes at all
If the shoes are an open-toe pair of heels then there will be more tolerance when measuring the shoe size
I find I can occasionally fit into an EU 45, but they are often too tight. For knee/thigh high boots, I prefer EU 47 because the ankle and vamp measurements often need to be bigger so that the foot can slide in and so that they can be laced or zipped up.
Lots of women’s shoes can be narrower and so you may need to go up an extra 1 or 1.5cm on measurements to account for this.
Heels tend to be pointed at the front and so you lose some space inside the shoe because of this - make sure to account for it.
I have had to order custom made boots in some cases due to the girth being too narrow in the case of knee high boots or above the knee. My legs were too fat to put them on, or zip them up.
Some shops on AliExpress do custom made sizing, be sure to message the store. Having said that, they seem to scale-up material measurements and so they can end up being too big in length or somewhere else.

For those wondering, the 3D models on this page are from Sketch Fab. This website is not affiliated in any way with them.