Lady Gaga is always one to count on in the outrageous fashion
stakes, for her recent 28th birthday in New York she rocked up in
towering heel-less platformed shoes. And yes of course, she lost
balance and took a bit of a tumble, this not being her first fall in front
of the public eye.
Jayne Mansfield in the 50’s, the stiletto became something worn by
the ‘driven go getters’ and the ‘bad-girl’. Women from all circles
could get in on the action and make themselves feel like a character
from the movies. “I don’t know who invented the high heel, but all
women owe him a lot,” Marilyn Monroe.
So why do it? The time old question of the high heel. Heels do make
the leg look longer. The toe crafted in fine leather and the oh so
skinny heel all work together to start at the foot and continue all the
way up to what would seem the chin. Women wear heels to make
themselves feel confident, beautiful and empowered. The stiletto was
created in 1954 by French fashion designer Rodger Vivier, launching
women from the wartime 1940’s to a modern day fashionable era.
Ava Gardner; considered to be one of the most beautiful women to
work in cinema, owned a pair of Vivier’s stilettos. However the heel
dates way back to Egyptian murals painted on tomb walls. High heels
were worn by the upper class of Ancient Egypt, they were considered
a work of art.
Caroline Cox, in her book ‘Stiletto’ comments, “The stiletto spells
sex. Its spiked heel has erotic allure and is a supreme symbol of
femininity.”
Pins is a common name used to describe legs, originating from the
look created by wearing a pair of heels, legs seem skinnier and longer.
The shin muscle is tensed and the calf muscle is stretched, the ankle
erect and the arch of the foot drastically curved making them look
toned and slender. You are immediately at least three inches taller,
allowing you to look down on the world atop your skyscraper heels.
Popularized by sultry Hollywood stars such as Marylin Monroe and
high
Psychologists Paul Morris, Jenny White, Edward Morrison and
Kayleigh Fisher from the University of Portsmouth,
proposed a theory that women favour high heels as a way to walk
even more like women. Women and men walk
differently, and wearing heels makes that difference even more
substantial, creating the ‘tottering’ effect. Heels
improve your posture making you walk with a straighter back, they
change your gait; the way your body moves, and at the same time
creating a tighter bottom and leg. Psychologically empowering,
slipping on a pair of heels is like a face-lift for your legs, making you
feel like a strong independent woman.
The most iconic shoe designers that come to mind are actually male,
with Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Roger Vivier. Blahnik’s
illustrations of his shoes are iconic across the world, however if it
came to actually getting your foot into one, that would be a different
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