FIONA HAWTIN
That high heels are associated with
sex is not a new thing. Chinese concubines and Turkish odalisques were
made to wear high-heeled sandals –
possibly to prevent them escaping from
the harem.
Prostitutes in Rome were identified by
their high heels.
And in 1860s Europe, high heels were
seen as a sex symbol because they
emphasised the arch of the instep, a
shape representing the curves of a
woman’s body.
Walking in high heels also forced the
pelvis to tilt so that both the rear end and
the chest stuck out to present one’s
wares, much like a peacock.
Social critics throughout history have
commented that the high heel is a
symbol of men’s power over women,
and of women’s self-destructive obedience – even at the risk of injury to the
legs, feet and back.
In her book Footnotes: On Shoes
(2001), Lorraine Gamman talks about the
unsympathetic attitudes of some
feminists, who ‘‘saw them [high heels] as
titillating ‘man-made’ objects, literally
involved in crippling women, or at least
slowing them down when the need to
run away from male violence and
oppressors arose’’.
Others, however, see the high heel as
a passion, a shopping sport, a representation of sexual independence, a mark of
both femininity and modern feminism,
and an object that empowers the female
wearer.
‘‘Many women who love shoes say
they don’t really buy them with men in
mind or to titillate; why shouldn’t women
who have nice legs enjoy wearing shoes
that make their legs look longer?’’ asks
Gamman.
American drag queen Ru Paul
describes the empowerment he feels
when slipping on a pair of heels: ‘‘How
tall am I? Honey, with hair, heels and
attitude I’m through the damned roof.’’
Podiatrist Kathy Hitchcox is all for
heels, but only certain types.
‘‘While very high stiletto heels are
terrible for your feet, some kinds of heels
are fine. Ultra-high stiletto heels not only
force your rear and forefoot into an
abnormal angle, but styles with a pointy
toe also squeeze the front of your foot into
an uncomfortably tiny space.
‘‘Platform heels and shoes designed
in the clog style can be great for some
feet. Hidden platforms in the front of the
16
YW
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2011
EDITOR OF FASHION
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
Fiona Hawtin is a conservative high-heel
wearer. She loves glamorous footwear, but
describes herself as a Monday to Friday
heels person. While she dons flat shoes at
the weekend to run about after her kids,
the editor isn’t happy about it. ‘‘Though I
think heels look ridiculously overdressed
for being out and about with the kids in
the weekends, I find it quite difficult to
wear flats.’’
Without her heels Hawtin is still a
statuesque 1.72 metres (5ft8in), but she
says she feels short without them. ‘‘I love
heels; they make me taller, and make my
legs look better. It’s hard to go back to
normal height after five days in heels; it’s
a total power thing.’’
Hawtin keeps to ‘‘sensible, solid’’ heels
during the day, and saves her stiletto
styles for night time. She goes for classic
styles by Prada, Marni and Louis Vuitton,
and confesses to owning ‘‘umpteen pairs
of black pumps’’.
While she admits that some of her
shoes are painful to wear, she doesn’t go
any distance in them, and carries a pair of
emergency ballet flats in her car if she
needs to walk anywhere far.
Photo: FAIRFAX
Stiletto heels
project the
body weight
forward into
the toes,
altering the
posture. This
altering of
the posture
– chest out,
bottom out
– is why
women look
so good in
heels, but it
can also
create huge
problems.
PAUL CRAIG
podiatrist
shoe mean that the slope of the foot is
lessened, giving you the high-heel look
without the damage to your feet and
legs. Clogs work on the same basis; they
elevate the entire foot, allowing the
wearer to be further from the ground
without the painful slope.’’
But she probably wouldn’t have
approved of chopines. They were the
first European example of platform
footwear. Worn by courtiers in Venice
around 1400, they were often so high that
ladies needed assistance from their
servants in order to walk in them.
It was deemed an art if one was able
to not only walk unattended in a pair of
the shoes, but dance without stumbling.
These early high heels – usually
made of wood or cork, and often
embellished with brocade, leather, velvet and precious stones – were worn as
an overshoe to protect women’s shoes
and skirts from dragging in the muddy
streets.
Chopines later became symbolic of
higher social standing, hence the term
‘‘well heeled’’.
Interestingly, Hitchcox not only slams
very high heels, but very flat shoes as
well. ‘‘Ultra-flat shoes can be just as
damaging to the feet as a very high heel.
The problem we have these days is that
many flat shoes are actually too low,
giving absolutely no support to the foot.
‘‘Skate shoes and styles like
Converse’s Chuck Taylors actually have
a negative heel height, giving many
people pain in the heel and the arch. I
often have to put insoles into these shoes
to add a small amount of slope to the foot.
‘‘For some I recommend wearing
clogs or platform heels.’’
The modern heel as we know it was
invented in the 1954 by French shoe
designer Roger Vivier for Christian Dior.
Vivier created the stiletto heel – named
after the small stiletto dagger with a thin
blade – by inserting a thin rod of steel
into the heel for strength.
Women rejoiced, as did shoe and foot
fetishists; here was an object so impossible, so brilliant, that it defied gravity.
The stiletto heel not only gave the
wearer height; it tightened the legs, lifted
the buttocks, made one look slimmer,
and gave women a certain walk that
had men falling at their feet.
The stiletto heel was undeniably sexy,
but also extremely damaging.
Podiatrist Paul Craig describes stiletto
heels as ‘‘a disaster waiting to happen’’,
and believes that while they look fantastic, they are detrimental to foot health.
‘‘Stiletto heels project the body weight
forward into the toes, altering the posture. This altering of the posture – chest
out, bottom out – is why women look so
good in heels, but it can also create huge
problems. Lower back pain, knee discomfort, shin splints, bunions and hip
pain are just a few of the side effects of
long-term heel wearing; not to mention
the short-term side effects like corns,
blisters and calluses.’’
If you must wear heels, Craig recommends treating them as fashion
statements to be seen in, but not walked
in.
‘‘It’s unnatural to be teetering around
on your toes all the time. High heels look
amazing, but wear them to events, don’t
walk any distance in them.’’
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