Jezebel: well-heeled

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]

Pleasure & Pain

Dodai — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:45:00 EDT

Here in New York City, a man has filed a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against a strip club after an employee allegedly poked him in the eye with her high heel during a lap dance. Stephen Chang claims he "sustained serious personal injuries" in November when the stripper "suddenly swung around, striking [him] in the eye with the heel of her shoe." The manager, identified as Lou, says: "We didn't have any reported accidents. We have a first-aid kit, and we would have treated the guy or called an ambulance." Chang might actually be hurt — and embarrassed— but you know what Lou could have said? "Hey, consider yourself lucky — some places charge extra for that." [NY Daily News]

Fashion Writer Wears Fashionable Shoes, Loses Will To Live

Dodai — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:00:00 EDT

Liz Jones (left), a writer for the Daily Mail, may look like a happy person, but she went on a crazy, sadistic mission: to wear eight different pairs of cutting-edge high heels during Fashion Week. All of the shoes were "ankle-breakingly high," with at least a four-inch heel and often a one-inch platform. And Ms. Jones never wears heels. She's a flip-flops girl "come rain or shine." Her report? "One week on and I have lost the will to live. I have so many blisters I have stopped counting." Leaving the country via Newark Airport, Jones was offered a wheelchair because she was hobbling so badly. But of course, at the shows, she was well-received. "Photographers for avant-garde Japanese publications, who normally shove me out the way at the couture shows, clamoured to take pictures of my vertiginous shoes," she claims.

"I admit that if you don't have to move, these shoes can look quite nice." But she likens them to corsets, the hobble skirt and foot binding. "Having tired of torturing us with skinny jeans and mini skirts, the fashion industry thought it might be a lark to render us unable not just to run for a bus, but even to stand up for periods of time." She gives each shoe a comfort rating and a lists the injuries she incurred. The worst offenders? Satin platforms from Marni, which she could only stand for five seconds. We love her entire report, because it's funny — and it didn't happen to us.
Killer Heels: Liz Jones Tests Out The Agonising New Styles [Daily Mail]