After seeing jelena’s portfolio and her high heel designs, something struck me, again.
Sometime ago I had a sociology class which discussed issues about status and self reconition, and it’s weird how humans contradict themselves.
Before China entered the “republic” era, the traditional cultural perception is that the smaller the foot of a lady is the more feminine she is. Therefore parents will wrap their daughter’s feet with long cloths since young to prevent the feet’s growth. Overtime, the bone structure is distorted and there is a term called “3 inch-beauty”, which refers to the standard of how big the foot should be. The small foot print forces the lady to walk in a tip-toe manner in small steps, which was regarded to be the feminine way of walking. Girls weren’t supposed to run at all.
There is also a Chinese saying to describe a long winded person as “gramma’s foot-wrap ---- Long and stinky”.
Of course later people regard it as a form of cruelty and modern girls get their normal feet back.
Then look at today’s modern high heels. It’s like a race of the skyscrapers, one tries to be taller than the other. They look extremely gestural and sexy, and shapes the female’s body posture. However it also looks extremely uncomfortable. I’ve never tried one, so I can’t say for sure. I figure I will probably get foot cramp from just wearing one, let alone those that have sharp and narrow tips that squeeze the toes.
Both are pursuit for beauty, image and self-recognition. Both involve physical adjustment of the body. However both receive direct opposite reactions.
So humans have not changed afterall. We will still allow ourselves to subject to “physical sacrifications” to reenforce our own image and self-recognition.
Maybe another massive shift in culture will create an entirely new perspective. Maybe it will be man who will be wearing something that is beyond today’s imagination.
Absolutely. I’ve always thought the same thing. Some women now are getting their little toe shaved off so they can fit into those pointy shoes. And high heels do bad things for your back.
So much of women’s fashion is weird to me because it makes women appear weak and vulnerable. Materials are thin and flimsy + offer little protection from the elements…forms are all revealed as if not wearing clothes at all…many include tight things around the neck, other torture/bondage-ish type submissive strapping around legs and breasts, and other things like high heels and long tight dresses that limit mobility. Those things are supposed to make them attractive to men but I think that it only makes them look vulnerable which I guess is attractive to some types of guys.
I was raised in a family that appreciates strong women, so typical fashion trends stand out to as being weird to me because I haven’t been guided by mainstream accepted “norms”.
It might be interesting to look into the psyche of the people that control the fashion industry. At the risk of being non-pc…I assume that the majority of the men that have controlled the high end fashion industry are not hetero…these are guys that are not sexually attracted to women themselves, but yet they design the clothes that are supposed to make women sexually attractive? That’s always struck me as being a little strange. Fashion seems to make a mockery of women but so much of it has been done for decades that it’s just seen as normal and accepted.
Look at old prisoner rope binding techniques, lots of fashion uses the same suggested patterns, just with different materials…but the same subliminal image.
Or maybe it’s just me and I think too much?
It’s the power of sex, man. I 'm down with all the analysis but damn, heels can be sexy. do you agree skinny? search your feelings, you know it to be true.
that is so freakin twisted about the pinky toe removal. any doctor who does that ought to be tarred and feathered.
I like the high heels only in boots, there it’s almost like part of a protective armor. Leather or some tough looking material, then the sharp heel makes sense…let them come close but be careful…I could still kick your ass. Just plain high heels on a reg. thin shoe with raw leg over, pretty boring. Stuff has to have a function, can’t stand negligee or teddies, no appeal at all to me, but a tanktop/sports bra + jeans, hair back in a simple ponytail…functional and sexy but not weak/vulnerable looking.
heels do so much for a woman and most men love a woman in heels: walk becomes sexier (obviously you have to know how to walk in heels!), bum is lifted, back is more arched and therefore makes bum more perked, yes women become more vulnerable but what man doesn’t like to help a woman out when she’s delicately trying not to fall, heels make legs look longer and slimmer and they make your feet look smaller…yes there are hundreds of negative aspects but that’s not going to stop women wearing heels.
i love my trainers and flats but i know what heels do for me.
guys think about it if you have the exact same woman walk past you at the exact same time one in flats and one in heels which one are you going to notice more??
Of course the one in heels, but that’s my point. People’s views on this has never shifted from ancient times even though we are supposed to be more “civilized” or that the culture has become more developed. The way we think should have developed into a more direct and simplistic way, something more true to who we are, but it hasn’t at all.
Anyways I think it will be interesting for footwear designers to look into this traditional foot-wrap thing if you aren’t aware of it. It’s neat from the outside but pretty disturbing from a humanistic point of view.
One point to think about that is slight contracdictory to the notion that heels make women more attractive becuase the make her more vunerable, is that fact that women who wear heels also appear taller. So unlike the foot binding practises that didn’t have any positive effect (other than a freaky notion of sexuality), the high heels fashion may be more based in womens liberation and feminism.
and yes high heeled boots are pretty sexy - they are also more confortable becuase the ankle is supported thereby minimising the vunerability factor and incrasiing the womens visual power - hence the boot of the dominatrix. (o)