Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Shoes or Daily Death Defying Devices?

I am not a shoe person. Of course my feet are not the industry size standard of beauty so in a way I can thank or blame them for my indifference to this apparently totally feminine obsession. The women who wear them well I admire and envy. I can even understand some of the aesthetic value of these marvels but I do not get the need to place myself in danger with every move I make.

Yesterday I saw a women nearly kill herself 3 times while walking across a fairly flat intersection. Her shoes were 100% to blame. They were lovely; a concoction of red and gold on a huge wedge that took her normal 5 foot 3 self up to a towering five foot six or seven. She had style but she did not have grace. She was walking and talking with a friend and nearly fell after the first two steps. Made a misstep by the 5th movement and crashed into the curb because she didn't lift her foot high enough when she reached the other side of the intersection with her final step. She then proceeded to "stomp" Frankenstein's monster style the rest of the way down the sidewalk in order to maintain her balance. It was not a pretty sight.

Why do we do this? Most shoes are NOT made by women for women. In the original onset of the high heel both men and women wore them, why is it we are still out in the stratosphere while men are securely planted on terra firma? Why do we feel the need to risk an injury just to "pull an outfit together"? Who are we really wearing these shoes for? 

I hate that we as a whole are such slaves to an industry who on a regular basis refer to the models as "hangers" for their clothes.  Our feet deserve more respect than we currently give them. Our self worth does as well. I don't know about  you but I am tired of the stiletto, no heel, stripper look shoe as the standard. Creative footwear, more power to you but for those of us who like to keep our feet on the ground please return to designing something more environmentally sound in sizes so everyone can keep their pretty feet safe on the ground.

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