A few weeks ago we told you man girdles (or, as we like to call them, "mirdles") were all the rage. One man even said they were part of "men's liberation." Since when were supertight, fat-flattening torture devices liberating, and since when did the modern man even NEED liberation to begin with?, we thought. Well, it looks like that mirdle-clad fellow was on to something: Today we learn that sales of men's heels are on the rise, at least across the pond. Not stilettos, mind you, but "day-to-day" styles in Britain are showing heels around two inches, and Dior last season offered daring dudes a two-and-a-half-inch heel. Now, some circles may consider anything with a two-and-a-half-inch heel to be a ballet flat, but for men, you might as well be asking them to walk on skyscrapers.

So what's up with the new "liberation?" French president Nicolas Sarkozy undoubtedly has a lot to do with it, since he wears major stackers to measure up to his new ex-supermodel wife. Today's London Times raises a simple question: If British men under the average male height of five-foot-eight can add a couple of inches with shoes, why shouldn't they take it?

The bestsellers are Jeffrey West's Decadent and Dandy collection, priced from £220 ($440). But do they really offer “improved posture, better trouser line and feelings of increased power and security”?

I have been wearing a pair in the office for a couple of days and, sadly, the answer is “sort of”.

Um, really? A man puts on heels and he gets "power and security"; when a women puts on heels, she gets "discomfort."

The odds are stacked against men's high heels [Times UK]