Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Heels, Heels, & More Heels


It’s 6 a.m. and there are at least 100 people waiting in line for the doors of a sneaker shoe store to open. Yes, you got it! They are all waiting for the new shipment of air Jordan’s to arrive, and as the shoes are handed to the customer you can see their eyes light up. They have just paid over $175 dollars for a pair of sneakers that come out every year.
On the other hand there are those who get a high off of wearing high heels; you can purchase almost four pairs of heels for $175. I’m one of those people who owns only four pairs of sneakers and more than 40 pairs of heels. I’ve been wearing stilettos since 10th grade in high school and I haven’t stopped since. Now I’m a junior at Johnson C. Smith University.
Stilettos allow you to stand out from the crowd and walk differently, like a model on the runway. The infamous question is, “Do they hurt?” the answer is, yes, they hurt like heck and sometimes my feet even go numb. With that said, its only right that I enlighten the students of Johnson c. Smith University on the history behind those high stepping stilettos.
Stiletto heels first appeared in the 1800s and they were used to increase the height of women and men. You heard right. Men wore stiletto heels in the 1800s to seem taller than they actually were. Overtime stilettos shifted from a height fetish item, and became associated with things that were deemed erotic.
Stilettos faded in the 1960s, because the pressure to produce such shoes became too much and supplies for the heel of the stiletto became hard to come by. However they reappeared in 1974, by a man named Manolo Blanhnik, who dubbed the new heel of the shoes, a needle. The needle became popular and was referred to as the needle high heel.
But it wasn’t long before the needle disappeared and the stiletto came back, although in the 1990s the stiletto heel faded again because of the new invention of the thick school girl high heels. The school girl look only lasted for about 10 years; the stiletto resurfaced in 2000 and became a major must have shoe.
Stilettos give an optical illusion of longer, slimmer leg, a smaller foot, and greater height. They also alter your posture, flex your calf muscles, and make the bust and buttocks more prominent. There are some disadvantages to wearing such high heels. The heel of the stiletto transmits a large amount of force into a small area of the foot causing pain.
Ultimately this can ruin your feet and have lasting effects for years to come. Stiletto heels are here to stay. The fashion world has adopted them by storm and some of the biggest names in fashion have some of the baddest heels in their lineup. Stiletto heels give you a rush and that extra pump in your stride. They make you feel dangerous, so can you handle whatever pressure that comes your way?

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