The Height of Fashion
March 23rd 2008 23:34
High heels are not about height. Not for tall women, anyway. It has become more and more apparent to me recently that many women, and men, believe that heels are just about height, and this is so not the case. Okay, in the case of our four foot sisters maybe it’s the case, but stilettos are not just about adding inches, and it makes me so sad that people have this misconception.
As a tall girl by girl standards, or at least so I am told, my recent ankle injury and resulting inability to wear high heels has resulted in a disturbing number of people telling me not to worry about being forced to wear flat shoes for months because I already have the height. Even my surgeon uttered these unforgivable words. Unbelievably, I am actually already aware that I am tall! So equally unbelievably, stilettos are SO not about the height for me.
Shoes can be the defining aspect of your outfit, and in my case, this is often true. An all black work ensemble with killer red heels suddenly becomes glamorous, sexy and mildly dangerous, and totally translatable to a bar after work. Red flats just don’t have the same oomph and make you want to walk straight home. Not to mention that stilettos tighten your calf muscles, lift up your butt and provide you with a sassier strut. Flats enable you to meander down the street with not so much of a booty shake, make your legs look shorter and leaves your butt, well basically just there. What girl wants that? As Stuart Weitzman said, “Nothing has been invented yet that will do a better job than high heels at making a good pair of legs look great, or great ones look fabulous.” Amen.
Yes, flats are sometimes a necessity in a big city where there’s a lot of walking to be done, and in professions where you’re on your feet all day. I am in no way undermining the place of the flat, or saying some people don’t look great in them and some outfits call for them. I’m just saying that when I had to actively purchase a few pairs in order to get through this flat stage of my life, I found myself naturally headed for the heels in the shoe stores and making myself look at flats was actually an effort. Stilettos just do so much more for a girl.
I am truly missing my shoes, I realised last week. Almost three months of not even a kitten heel is actually depressing for me, and it is in no way connected to how tall I feel. I know that people who think I shouldn’t care about the heels because I am tall totally don’t understand my sense of loss. It takes a fellow shoe lover to truly sympathise with me, and when I do find one, and many a tall one I might add, they are truly horrified on my behalf. Shoes, like all fashion, are expressive of personal style, taste and personality. I find myself staring longingly and enviously at the stilettos of other women in the city each day, wanting to let them know that I too am a high heel lover. And not to go overboard with the shoe quotes, but in the immortal words of George Bernard Shaw, “If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat.” And in today’s world where hats only make appearances on race day, we best be sticking with the stilettos on a daily basis I think.
As a tall girl by girl standards, or at least so I am told, my recent ankle injury and resulting inability to wear high heels has resulted in a disturbing number of people telling me not to worry about being forced to wear flat shoes for months because I already have the height. Even my surgeon uttered these unforgivable words. Unbelievably, I am actually already aware that I am tall! So equally unbelievably, stilettos are SO not about the height for me.
Shoes can be the defining aspect of your outfit, and in my case, this is often true. An all black work ensemble with killer red heels suddenly becomes glamorous, sexy and mildly dangerous, and totally translatable to a bar after work. Red flats just don’t have the same oomph and make you want to walk straight home. Not to mention that stilettos tighten your calf muscles, lift up your butt and provide you with a sassier strut. Flats enable you to meander down the street with not so much of a booty shake, make your legs look shorter and leaves your butt, well basically just there. What girl wants that? As Stuart Weitzman said, “Nothing has been invented yet that will do a better job than high heels at making a good pair of legs look great, or great ones look fabulous.” Amen.
Yes, flats are sometimes a necessity in a big city where there’s a lot of walking to be done, and in professions where you’re on your feet all day. I am in no way undermining the place of the flat, or saying some people don’t look great in them and some outfits call for them. I’m just saying that when I had to actively purchase a few pairs in order to get through this flat stage of my life, I found myself naturally headed for the heels in the shoe stores and making myself look at flats was actually an effort. Stilettos just do so much more for a girl.
I am truly missing my shoes, I realised last week. Almost three months of not even a kitten heel is actually depressing for me, and it is in no way connected to how tall I feel. I know that people who think I shouldn’t care about the heels because I am tall totally don’t understand my sense of loss. It takes a fellow shoe lover to truly sympathise with me, and when I do find one, and many a tall one I might add, they are truly horrified on my behalf. Shoes, like all fashion, are expressive of personal style, taste and personality. I find myself staring longingly and enviously at the stilettos of other women in the city each day, wanting to let them know that I too am a high heel lover. And not to go overboard with the shoe quotes, but in the immortal words of George Bernard Shaw, “If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat.” And in today’s world where hats only make appearances on race day, we best be sticking with the stilettos on a daily basis I think.
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