Jezebel: Heels

Got plans for a tropical vacation this winter? ...

Dodai — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Got plans for a tropical vacation this winter? Gonna scuba or snorkel? Don't forget your high-heeled flippers. (Insert eyeroll emoticon here.) [InventorSpot]

Shoenanigans

Maria — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Hmm. Call us old fashioned but these shoes from Aneejet Kosters just seem more than a little ridiculous. What is the point in wearing shoes when your feet are almost fully exposed to the ground? Surely, we thought, these metallic gold non-shoes must be reaching new levels of outrageousness that not even our crazy Finnish fashion eccentric friends would pretend to be interested in wearing. And then we saw these shoes by the same designer. Well, fashion is an art form, right? [WOW]

Trade Union Speaks Out Against "Sexist" Heels • Iraq War Limits Iraqi Women's Freedoms

Maria — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:30:00 EDT

The Trades Union Congress in England is urging employers to stop making high-heels compulsory for female employees on grounds that it is sexist and can lead to health problems. • Comedian Kristen Schaal reveals that not only is she well-read in British dramatists, she used to practice stand-up in front of cows as a child. • In England a man has been banned from visiting his girlfriend's home after neighbors complained about their noisy sex and the girlfriend's general "nightmare neighbor" behavior. • Another plucky-grandma-fighting-a-thief story? Oh, yes. •

• Two women have been charged in the murder of a British couple honeymooning in Antigua and Barbuda. • The Maricopa County Sheriff in Arizona has violated a ruling that he is not allowed to require female inmates to receive a court order before they are granted an abortion. • In (somewhat) related news, there is a new program at the Ohio Reformatory for Women that allows inmates to raise their children in their cells and in in-house prisons to keep the bond between mother and child tight. • More than 80% of women in the Air Force in Iraq reported persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating and nearly 20% reported one symptom of PTSD. • Meanwhile in the region, a man has been arrested in Jerusalem for helping beat, threaten, and rob a divorced Israeli woman under the self-proclaimed title of "chastity guards." •

Killer Heels

Maria — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:20:00 EDT

This morning, two teenage sisters in Florida were badly beaten with high heel shoes by approximately 30 members of a girl gang known as "The Rock Star Girls" and "The Cheerleaders" in the parking lot of a nightspot known as "Club Crunk." The gang members approached the two victims as they were waiting in the parking lot after being denied entry into the club when three of the members took off their shoes and began beating them. One of the members beat the girls with an eight-inch brown stiletto heel (ugly shoes for an ugly personalities!) while saying "B, I am gonna kill you" and another stating "B, I fight to kill." The victims were left with deep cuts on their face that required hospital treatment. The police were alerted when the victim's mother called 911 and told police "Look at my babies, they were beaten at a club by, like, 30 hoes." Ouch! Let this be a lesson: Beware of women with horrible taste in footwear. [The Smoking Gun]

The Dollar May Be Low, But Heels Are High, And Getting Higher

Dodai — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Yesterday's Independent featured a story by Harriet Walker about skyscraper heels. Prompted, of course, by Victoria Beckham making an appearance in spindly 5 inch stilettos. Writes Walker: "Just when you thought heels couldn't get any higher, guess what: they have." This season, Prada, Louboutin and Dior all have towering heels. And the Giambattista Valli shoes for fall (pictured) have a retro feel, but with platforms and heels so high they almost seem designed for toppling over. The Daily Mail points out that high heels have been around since 3500BC, when Ancient Egyptian noble women picked their way through the pyramids. Hundreds of years, billions of aching feet, twisted ankles, throbbing bunions and crusty corns. Why do we do it?

Are heels this season so high because the economy is so low? There's power in height, in the instant and literal lift one gets from heels. Some say they feel sexier, and there's no doubt that wearing heels changes the posture of a woman — pushing out the chest, tensing the calf muscle, elongating (actually hyperextending) the leg and putting stress on the lower back, causing hips to work harder and therefore "sway." But where is the true power when you can't really walk? Where is the power when most of the popular shoes were designed by men who don't wear them? Ever notice how ladies who wear sneakers all the time have smooth and un-callused feet, and women with a "sexy" heel habit have stressed out and jacked up feet? Why, after thousands of years and a sexual revolution, do we continue to do this to ourselves? Is it because there's a thrill in being a woman, in claiming all of the chicks-only, "feminine" accoutrements that go with being decidedly female? While you ponder these questions, I'm going to see if I can find a price for those black Giambattista Valli numbers on the lower left. What? Just curious!

Skyscraper Heels: They May Be Painful And Expensive But We've Seen Nothing Yet [Independent]
Posh Spike needs a head for heights as she steps out in five-inch heels [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Fashion Victims
Fashion Writer Wears Fashionable Shoes, Loses Will To Live

[Images from Style.com via Flora's Box]

What A Heel

Dodai — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Ladies who went to see Sex And The City over the weekend and are busting out the skyscraper heels had better learn how to walk in them. Good news! Il Primo Passo, a shoe boutique in Santa Monica, offers "Walk Like A Diva" classes. Who teaches women how to strut in stilettos? A man. Specifically, Jazzmun, a drag queen who says, "The heels are the mistress, and you are the slave. Submit." [LA Times]

Modern Love

Dodai — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:30:00 EST

Valentine's Day may be over, but there's still romance in the air: Just read the interview with Coco, the buxom wife of rapper/actor Ice T, over on Playboy.com. Some revelations from the 28-year-old: Ice likes it when she wears heels while they're boning. "I actually keep a pair of shoes next to the bed," she says. "Just in case I don't have them on and we start gettin' busy, I can throw them on." The couple has sex in front of a wall of mirrors: "I'm not the kind of person who gets turned on by other people; he's the same way, too. We like watching ourselves." Coco's ample rear is real! "Ice will let women touch my butt, feel it, grab it, whatever they want to do, to prove that there's nothing in there." And lastly, Ice and Coco have pet names for each other: "I call him Baby Poo. He calls me, 'Bitch, get over here.'" [Playboy]

A word of advice, ladies: Travel in practical ...

Jennifer — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:45:00 EDT

A word of advice, ladies: Travel in practical shoes. Please. And 18- and 23-year old woman were killed yesterday in California after being unable to escape a train collision because there were wearing heels. The awesomest part about taking a train is that it is so relaxing and comfy. So throw on your trainers when boarding any mode of transportation. Because really, we seriously don't even believe that Victoria Beckham keeps her ridiculous shoes on all the time. (Hullo, remember in her Coming to America special? She drives in flats!) Safety over fashion, always. [CBS News]