17 Oct 09 Shoes are The Window to the Sole

I have always believed in the idea that you can tell a great deal about a person by looking at their shoes. I don’t mean this in a pervy, fetish obsessed kind of way (really, I don’t). When you think about it, the shoes people people wear possibly make more of a statement about the way they wish to be perceived than any other item of clothing. Our choice of footwear may be much more a revelation of our subconscious selves than we realise. When we decide to wear the well worn and holey sneakers we keep in the back of the wardrobe we are saying more about ourselves than simple ‘I want to be comfortable’. When we make such choices our manner in general is likely to be just as casual our footwear. If this is the case, just what statement are men trying to make when they don the new fashion in shoes? Pointed toes which curve upwards have become ubiquitous; in fact, it is getting very difficult to buy a pair of shoes which have not been influenced by this fashion.

Women of course, have subjected themselves to extreme fashions in footwear for many years. Foot binding was practiced on women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century. The Chinese custom of foot-binding is commonly cited by sociologists and anthropologists as an example of how an extreme deformity by contemporary western standards could be viewed as a source of pleasure in other cultures and of how immense suffering can be inflicted on women and girls in the pursuit of so-called beauty. Source: Wikipedia

xray comparison of a high heeled foot and a foot deformed by binding

The trend has continued to the present day in the form of ever more extreme high heels. While high heels elicit a powerful response the damage they do to women’s feet is undeniable.

“When a woman wears a high heeled shoe, the anatomy is changed and the pressure is put on the heads of the metatarsals rather than the base where it is designed to be (shown in the picture). This creates a slew of problems that I treat regularly. Bunions and hammertoes are some of the more well known ones. But most women will share the story of how “their heels killed them” after that night out, or how “I danced all night, but my feet paid for it the next day cause of my heels”. This common problem is usually treated by most foot specialists by recommending better shoes. Those same women, keep wearing their heels.” Source: Beverly Hills Aesthetic Foot Surgery

Women’s high heels may have become indispensable for many modern women. No matter how much pain and injury they may cause, the fashion shows no signs of dying out. Stilettos are now as tall and popular as ever. Perhaps it is only just that men are now forced to endure fashion trends equally as bizarre. If the trend in upward pointedness continues the potential for similar deformation to male feet becomes a distinct possibility.