Heels

I have some interesting stuff, well to me at least, on my iPod. One recording artist I came across is Kirsty MacColl. I am not sure where I first heard her stuff, but if you have not heard her you really should. Her songs are a little different that what’s out there. She talks about some weird stuff and has great melodies. The bad thing is that she died in 2000 in a tragic boating accident.

On the last album she made, Tropical Brainstorm, she has a song named, “In These Shoes?”. It’s a wacky song about a girl who is asked out by several men but refuses to go anywhere with them because of the shoes she is wearing. For anyone has ever worn silly, strappy, totally impractical shoes, you can definitely get that song. It came on my iPod the other day and it got me to thinking about shoes – not that I need to think about them as I totally love them.

But I mean, who ever invented the high heel? When you sit down and think about them, they really are the silliest thing ever. Despite the fact that when I wear them I feel glamorous, sexy, and powerful, they are badly designed and terrible for your feet. I did a Google search and found a site where they have a timeline showing the evolution of the high heel. Apparently, the high heel may have been invented by Leonardo da Vinci when in 1533 short-statured Italian bride Catherine d'Medici wore them to exaggerate her height. Later, shoes with high heels were worn by both sexes to aid those who were “vertically challenged”. From a practical standpoint the raised heels are sometimes claimed to have been a response to the problem of the rider's foot slipping forward in stirrups while riding in the 1500s, and I guess it kind of emerged from there. Fast forward to 1904 and the English “pump” comes to America followed by tall "stiletto" heels for women's shoes, invented in Italy, in about 1955 and become a fashion rage then. There is also a Wikipedia page (of course) that lists many historical facts of the high heel.

High heels do give the illusion of longer, slenderer and toned legs, so in the name of vanity they are worn to attract the eye of the male in the complicated courting game we all go through. But they are a nightmare for podiatrists everywhere because they cause such bad things to your feet. As I said, I love wearing them despite the fact I can barely walk in them and can’t have them on for very long. I envy those women who wear them all day long and claim they have no problems with their feet or walking. Maybe really good, expensive shoes are move comfortable, but I have always had problems with heels higher than 3 inches and tend to stick to ones slightly lower, and as I get older I wonder about the sanity of wearing such dangerous garb. I mean, really, who am I trying to impress?