The Killer Heels
This is an article from the Daily Mail a couple of months ago. Steve brought this one to my attention aswell.... Is there nothing with heels that the guy doesn't know about! ;-)
Shoes speak with forked tongues. They can
be as reliable and comfortable as a nanny, or as dangerous and exciting as a good-time
girl out on the town.
The shoes on this page, from the top
designers, are definitely for walks on the wild side this Christmas. Sexy and empowering,
they have the ability to make ordinary women into supergirls like no other item of dress.
What do they have that women find so
enticing and men so awe-inspiring? Quite simply, high heels.
High-heeled shoes - and the higher the
better - force women's bodies forward from the pelvis and make them move in a way they
simply don't when wearing a pair of wellies or flat pumps.
It's all to do with the movement of the
derriere. It's no accident that the Princess of Wales became a truly sexy dresser when she
threw away her flatties and went to Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik for high heels.
Legs look better and thighs feel sexier in
high heels. But that isn't the whole story. Shoes have special properties because they
draw attention to the most erotically under-played portion of the female anatomy: the
foot.
Foot worship goes way back to the 13th century and beyond and was a central core of
Chinese culture for generations.
But what the shoes here are about is glamour: the amalgam of sexiness and sophistication
which only the best designers get right. Compare a shoe by Gucci with a cheaper attempt at
the same look (and designer shoes *are* expensive), and you see the difference
immediately.
Tinselly sparkle, in shoes as in everything else, needs a sure hand to stop it from
slipping into naffery. A good high-heeled shoe has the rhythm of a piece of sculpture and
the poise of a complicated feat of engineering. It must have balance and strength, as well
as beauty.
It also gives the wearer an erotic charge - even when every step is agony. Indeed the pain
is part of the sexuality.
When I researched my book, Shoes & Fashion And Fantasy (Thames & Hudson, £14.95), and talked to women of all ages, both here and in America, they all confirmed that wearing high heels, although very uncomfortable, puts them in charge. And bearing in mind the pain was a crucial part of it; it made them feel strong.
Ask any designer what top models are always most concerned about as they get ready to go
out on the runway in front of the glamorous but cruelly bitchy fashion crowd, and they'll
tell you that it is the shoes.
Professionals like Naomi Campbell know that selling the clothes is about "walking the
walk" - and success on that depends on the shoes and the way the body balances on
them.
And in a world dominated by the ruthlessly unsexy trainer, shoes like these have an added
charge. When a woman puts on high heels, she has changed from being an amazon of the track
to being a mistress of the sophisticated urban world.
The tip-tap of the tiny but tall heels is the new sound and it brings a warning, It's not for nothing that stiletto heels were named after the deadliest rapier of them all. These shoes are killers.
