For the Love of High Heels Essay -- Shoes Fashion Essays

For the love of High Heels As I watch a fellow bookman teeter down the stairs in the campus center, her normally flamboyant dance is no where to be seen as she tensely grips the guardrail. She lowers herself delicately down, each trample c argonfully calculated. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot- and she makes it to the bottom without mishap. The culprits encumbering her normally wild grace argon easily discerned her lieu. Her feet are wrapped up in four inch- plus a one inch plan to make for a total of five inches- fire engine ablaze(p) heels. Theyre strappy sandals that lace half way up her calves with a silk ribbon and have a bun in the oven effectively made walking an ordeal. Why do we do this? rise up darling, because Shoes are hot (Benstock & Ferriss p1) Thats right, dress are hot, and the hottest ones of all are high heels. Theyre collected, worn, and loved by women across the globe. Theyre everywhere. They run rampant in books, calendars, photographs, alb um and movie covers, dangling in miniature precious metallic element versions from earlobes and chains, and lets not forget the most important place- womens closets. Shoes are no longer something one simply wears on their feet, but a passion, a hobby, ones personal statement, a source of authority, sexual independence and joy. Theyre a invariable obsession in pop grow, endlessly talked about and fetishized in television, movies, melody lyrics, and seem to be worn without fail by glamorous celebrities no matter the occasion. The most notorious of the shoe loving pop culture media is of the smash HBO series Sex in the City, in which shoes are one its main themes. Physically high heel shoes, and specifically the stiletto, are the source of much debate. More and more studies... ...and Benstock write that there is ...satisfaction we understand in having purchased a pair of shoes that is us, that represents us... The fashionable dress of the westerly world is one means whereby an al ways fragmentary self is pasted together into a semblance of unified identity. Shoes serve as markers of gender, class, race, ethnicity, and even sexuality. (p4) The idea of piecing ourselves together with our things can be applied to all accessory or article of clothing, but I argue that shoes are more than that. Power, sexuality and sheer aesthetic pleasure lead to a love of shoes. Janet Lyon reflects upon the mystery of the love of shoes writing, How is one to accounting system for this hypnotic allure, for so many generations of modernitys women, of the impractical, foot-deforming, outrageous shoe?....For fabulous shoes are indeed a joy. (Benstock & Ferriss p273)