“Death of high heels”, “R.I.P. beloved heels”, “The heel is dead”, “Long live the flat” and “The flat is back” are expressions used at the beginning of one article by Lauren Goldstein in the Stylist magazine made me wonder what is the story.
Obviously it was an article about the women flat shoes coming back as fashion over the high heel, well this is fashion and I am sure they will back in not time, but the interesting thing is the history of the huh heels and what do they do to women and why and that what I am summarising below.
Fig (1): “cool women don’t wear heels” [1]?. Image adapted from Clarks.
It was the aristocratic men in the 16th century who was the first to wear high heels in their riding boots to keep the feet in stirrups. It came originally from Iran in the 1599 with some ambassador to Europe and the men high heels were adapted by aristocrats [5]. Then women picked up the fashion and become more common after Christian Dior’s New Look after the second world war [1].
Fig (2): Old men high heels. Image adapted from [5].
So obviously since the 2000 the designers were in race to produce the wackiest and most dangerous shoes ever and thats why some high heels shoes are so unbelievable. Examples? check out the 12” Armadillo shoe for Alexander McQueens.
Fig (3): Armadillo shoe for Alexander McQueens. Image adapted from [4].
Fig (4): Lady Gaga. Adapted from [6].
Fig (5): Christain Louboutin’s Ballet Heels. Adapted from [7].
You think these shoes are weird and uncomfortable to wear? well have a look at this. It is designed by a German designer called Iris Schieferstein from dead animals [8]. Well there night be an art idea here that you have a foot in grave as mentioned in the daily mail [9] but I can’t see it.
Fig (6): Dead horse shoes by Iris. Adapted from [9].
Heels are not good for hiking, driving or walking on grass and posh floors and they get stuck in things, but most importantly they are not good for woman’s way of walk and body. Every body know that women scarifies comfort for fashion. Wearing high heels will change the centre of balance and the ease of walk which increase the chance of twisting your ankle. On the long term they cause Osteoarthritis and back pain due to putting pressure on part they are not build to sustain it.
Fig (7): Heels effect poster. Adapted from [3].
Fig (8): The average heel heights in the UK, Spain, Denmark, Germany and France. Image adapted from The Daily Mail [2].
Fig (9): The heel heights distribution in the UK. Image adapted from the The Daily Mail [2].
Reference:
[1] – Lauren Goldstein, R.I.P Beloved Heels, Stylist, April 2014. Link: http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/death-of-heels-the-flat-is-back-fashion-shoes-high-heels-flats#image-rotator-1
[2] – Martha De Lacy, Walking tall: British women now wear the HIGHEST heels in Europe … to compensate for being among the continent’s shortest, The Daily Mail, 20 July 2012. Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2175891/Short-British-women-copy-Cheryl-Cole-Victoria-Beckham-wear-Europes-highest-heels.html
[3] – BuNgAnJaSH, The Horrors of High Heels, 16th November 2010, Link: http://bunganjash.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/horrors-of-high-heels.html
[4] – http://simplyfrabulous.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/inspiration-armadillo-shoes.html
[5] – William Kremer, Why did men stop wearing high heels?, 25th January 2013, BBC, Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21151350
[6] – http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/23/high-heels-lady-gaga-extreme
[7] – http://www.fashionavecpassion.com/10-iconic-shoes/
[8] – http://www.iris-schieferstein.de
[9] – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2110465/One-foot-grave-The-bizarre-shoes-dead-animals.html
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