On the one hand, if a woman wants to wear heels for some special dress-up occasion — well, I sometimes wear ties, too, so a bit of discomfort for a limited period of time is just part of life.
(Back in my youth (since that youth included the 70s), I did have some formal shoes with maybe an inch, inch-plus heel. It never bothered me all that much, but I also only wore them on select occasions.)
It's the "All Heels, All the Time" fashion statement that just doesn't make sense to me. Heels are uncomfortable, can cause injury and long-term pain, and on some surfaces are just plain unsafe, but they keep being the "standard" for women, for whatever reason. If that standard were to vanish overnight, I would shed no tears.
When +Margie Kleerup broke her ankle a few years back, she ended up not being able to wear heels for quite a long time. And y'know what? Didn't bother me a bit, or make her any less sexy in my eyes.
+Kay Hill has eschewed heels so far. I hope she keeps that up.
Anyway, fun article about some of the reasons for heels becoming a fashion item (again and again).
Originally shared by +Gizmodo:
Why we still haven't killed off the high heel http://trib.al/DO7Fn2x
I hate high heels, I have one pair of boots with a low heel and that's enough for me. When I had an office job I wore them occasionally and had a few comfortable pairs but nothing over 2" or so.
Like any fashion, if people want to wear them they just need to be careful with their feet and ankles. Calf muscles shorten up over time if you wear them too much. I personally don't want to look like an 80s Barbie with my shoes off. 😉
I can't wear them either. A short heel is all I can handle, and that very barely. I'm prone to ingrown toenails, and wearing anything that forces my weight to my toes just exacerbates that.
I can handle just about any height as long as it's wide enough. It's the teeny little spike that I can't handle. If you watch a woman walk in those, her ankles wobble to compensate every time she puts her foot down. Yeah, no thanks.
Of course, wide heels aren't very popular, so I don't end up wearing heels very often.
One comment on the ergonomics of heels, based on a lesson by my wife:
Take a high-heeled shoe, and put the toe to the ground. If the heel either comes off the floor–the shoe has a fundamental design flaw. All the pressure is on a single point, not spread over your whole foot. (Most likely, the manufacturer took some other shoe, and put a mis-fitting heel on to it.)
So heels have have issues, to be sure, but a shocking number (per her lesson) add to the problem by having bad designs.
Bikers, bikers wear heals.
I keep thinking about that X-ray of a woman's foot in high-heel shoe.
+Michelle Norton Though they're relatively low heels, as I recall, and I suspect they serve a similar function to the heels on horse riders mentioned in the article. Or to make the bikers look taller and more intimidating. 🙂
+George Wiman You mean this one? http://themetapicture.com/x-ray-of-foot-in-high-heeled-shoe/
>shudder<