This may be a few years old, but the underlying theme is ever-relevant.
Two years ago, spring had been dubbed the season of "extreme footwear"; i.e. shoes that can rightfully be described as fetishistic (defined by the Oxford English Dictionary with typical dryness as "an object . . . which serves as the stimulus to, or the end in itself of, sexual desire").
At the time, in Paris, there was an exhibition celebrating this very concept. David Lynch and Christian Louboutin had collaborated for the boldly named photography show Fetish, in which two women pose in a Blue Velvet atmosphere for Lynch, wearing Louboutin shoes.
"You can channel that feeling [comfort with one's sexuality] into your shoes in a way you can't with your clothes," says Serena Rees, co-founder of boutique sex-wear chain Agent Provocateur. "If you work in a bank, you can just wear your massive heels beneath your suit, suggesting something underneath."
"...heels celebrate a woman," Rees says. "They add and emphasise a woman's curves: they're not about skinniness." In the notes accompanying the Parisian show, Louboutin writes, "David [Lynch] had only one demand: 'No bones'." And the models are lusciously curvy.
"Our take has always been to make a woman feel good about herself," Rees continues. But how does wearing shoes that squeeze make anyone feel better? "A woman who feels sexy feels good about herself, but she has to be doing it for herself, not a man."
And so one comes to the conclusion that, fine, a woman feels better if she believes she's looking good, but isn't that just because she's getting sexual attention, in which case, isn't it ultimately another example of women suffering physical discomfort for male attention?
I would love to hear the general consensus on this issue. Is the energy a woman puts into looking good ultimately spent simply to garner attention from men (or other women)?
I know there's no definitive answer to this, but what about your individual points of view?
I hate to admit it, but personally, this is sometimes the basis for my appearance choices in the morning, and before going out at night.
Catch.
Romany
[photos courtesy of smh.com.au and wallpaper.com]
