It sounds an easy question to answer – “Who should wear elevators?” It goes without saying that they are mostly thought of as ‘footwear for short guys’. But this is no longer the case. We have got to the stage where almost everyone today will benefit from wearing elevators. And here’s why.

Go back just 15 years and indeed that’s what elevators were, for shorter smaller guys – available in just small sizes, and in very old fashioned styles, they were marketed in old fashioned and coy terms using outdated language (‘discreet height assistance for the discerning gentleman’). That meant they were for guys much shorter than average. And way older.

I am in my mid 30s and started adding height at around 19, very back end of the 1990s – I was using lifts in my hi top sneakers/trainers, combat boots/Chelsea boots etc. I checked out the elevators available at that time and made a mental note never to look at them ever again. They looked like the styling had got stuck at around the time when Dean Martin was singing Let it Snow. Nothing like millennial fashion at all. But of course happily it all changed with boots by companies like GuidoMaggi.

I then in my 20s began to realize something – that wanting to be taller was the key. Not being ‘short’ (whatever that means). And it applies to guys of all heights and for varying reasons. I noticed something interesting – working in the club scene at that period you met all kinds of people. And you realized right from the outset – some guys you might think of as ‘short’ (a guy I ran one night with regularly) was perfectly happy being short. In fact I think he even quite liked it. He was able to build his body up quickly because of his height and he never had the slightest problem with women! Wore the flattest All Stars and shoes that were fashionable at the time and never gave a thought about his height.

However, I knew for a fact of other guys who were already really tall, even taller than me, had a thing about their height and liked being the tallest guy in the room. I could see plainly as a typical club promoter observing his clients that they were very aware of other guys who were tall. And that they would prefer to be taller still.

I was specially aware of this because I fell into that category myself – at 6’2.5” (190cm) I wanted to be as tall as 3 really huge guys who came to a night I worked on. Period. And what is more I met another guy who was the same. And he introduced me to the idea of adding height. He always seemed really big, he worked the door of another bar and we got talking a lot and eventually he confided in me.

Over a very long period I came to realize that this business of adding height was not really just about ‘shortness’. It was a lifestyle thing, and increasingly tailored into perceptions of what looks good according to the individual and his own lifestyle – not about some fixed idea written down about how you should look or behave in certain circumstances. Like the old fashioned rules about what colours ‘a gentleman’ should wear together that are now regarded as silly and restrictive. This is a big change and it has definitely occurred over the past 15 years.

I have written a lot on websites about all of this and over a few years have had a good few hundred people get in touch with me for advice on elevators and lifts – and what has struck me is the degree to which, for example, so many tall guys want to be taller (it’s always a bit about competition), also how many mid height guys want to add just a bit without detection (and in comfort!) so, for example, when they go out they are just a tiny tad taller than their partner if she wears heels. This has become more of an issue but it totally depends upon stuff like fear of detection etc. And of course, naturally, guys shorter than average wanting to be taller. But there are no hard and fast categories or cut off points about short/ tall/medium height (what is tall in Indonesia is short in Holland for example, average heights being so massively varied across countries and continents). The old categories break down simply because people are different shapes, builds, cultures. So along with fashion, they vary in what they want – often at different times in their lives as well.

This really means that added height is for almost everyone at some point or other. And the key is to get it right in style terms – almost every single guy looks better with a couple of inches extra height. Also the issue of detection. Detection is THE biggest fear and I totally get that, as it is (and always has been) mine as well. I will write more about this in another piece.

And if I have any one piece of advice for all guys even vaguely thinking of adding height, at any height level you might currently be. Get yourself a quality pair of elevators in a standard style to suit your usual clothes, with a 2”+ elevator (maybe 3”, if you are taller than 5’11”) as a start point. Something in the 6cm, 7cm or 8cm range. And in a style somewhat like what you might normally wear. This height lift is undetectable both on and off, so you do not feel that people think your height is going way up and down – take them off and it just looks like you have lost the usual height when you take off ANY pair of shoes; put them ON and they just lift you to a degree you yourself realize, but which others will not think is anything out of the usual. All boots and shoes add height, even the humble flip flop!

All the pluses with none of the (potential) minuses of going really tall.

Guys like myself who add a lot more inches have learned the tricks and how to do it without detection – that too depends upon lifestyle and that too I will address in a future post!