I sat in a high back chair at a friend's place for an hour at a dinner party before I realized why I hadn't moved once to lean against a wall or fold myself sideways the way I do in every other chair I own. The wings came up past my shoulders, the back went higher than my head, and I just sat there like the chair was doing some of the work of holding me up. That's the moment it clicked for me, not in a showroom, just at someone's dining table with a glass of wine going warm in my hand.
Where it doesn't work is anywhere already busy or low slung. Put one next to a low sofa and a low coffee table and it towers over everything else in the room like it wandered in from a different house. Same goes for small rooms with low ceilings, it can make an eight foot ceiling feel like it's pressing down, especially if the chair has a dark frame or a tall tufted back. It also clashes with anything too delicate near it, spindly side tables, thin lamp stands, that sort of thing look apologetic next to a chair with this much presence. It wants a room with some height and some weight already in it, a tall window, a solid rug, furniture that isn't afraid of itself.
When you're looking at one in person, or the day it shows up, check the depth of the seat first, not just the height of the back. A lot of high back chairs are built for looking impressive rather than sitting in for longer than a cocktail hour, and if the seat is too deep for your legs you'll spend the whole time perched like you're at a job interview. Press on the arms if it has them, a wobble there means the frame underneath is thinner than it should be. Check how the fabric is pulled over the back, puckering or loose spots at the seams usually show up within the first few months, not years, so that's worth catching on delivery day, not after you've already rearranged the whole room around it.
Mine has been in daily use for about three years now, and the wear shows up first where your head rests against the back, a slight darkening or flattening of the fabric that no amount of fluffing fixes. Leather ones crease and soften in a way that looks better with age, almost all fabric ones just look tired, so if you're rough on furniture, lean leather or a performance weave. Vacuum the crevices where the back meets the wings every couple months, that's where crumbs and dust go to retire. The one mistake I'd avoid is buying it without sitting in it for at least ten minutes in the store, because a chair that looks commanding can still feel like a punishment after the first course.
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