Do you suffer from shoe envy?

In Bound Feet Blues, I talk about how I used to envy men their solid, sturdy shoes. Men’s shoes give them the freedom to stride around as if they own the world. Whereas some women’s shoes – especially the more feminine, delicate ones – felt like they hobbled me and restricted my ability to move around.

In particular, I loved the look of brogues and longed to own a pair. But men’s shoes are of course huge and would never fit me. And I would feet too embarrassed to go into the men’s section of shoe shops to ask to try their shoes on.

The great thing now about our post-modern, post-feminist world is that there are brogues made for women – like this rather elegant pair…

Shop the Masculine Tailoring issue of THE EDIT magazine. Church's | Burwood polished-leather brogues.

 

 

Do you suffer – or have you ever suffered – from shoe envy too? And if so, what and who did you envy..?

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What gorgeous barefoot sandals!

I had never heard of barefoot sandals before until my pal Vincent posted a photo on Facebook. As I am obsessing about feet and shoes and all things pedial these days due to Bound Feet Blues, I set off into the web universe to find out more.

There are some amazing and gorgeous foot adornments  that can be found – here is an example. Isn’t it just gorgeous?

Tribal Indie BAREFOOT Sandals Ankle wrap sandal LEAF Toe Thongs crochet Gypsy Sandals Wanderlust PURPLE Barefoot Wedding bare feet GPyoga

With this current rare heatwave in the UK, this summer might Continue reading

Why I love this pair of battered biker boots

I’ve been blogging a lot about high heels recently and in particular, my efforts to recreate a swaying, high heeled walk for a scene in Bound Feet Blues.

To give you a contrast – and especially to show you who I am now, here is a photo of the kind of footwear that I stride around in these days.

This is the pair of biker boots that I wear most often in my daily life. They are now a bit beaten up and grungy looking. But I love them because they are the most comfortable pair of boots I have at the moment.

I love the way that they make me feel a bit tough, especially with the two strapped buckles on the side. If you know me, you know that I’m really a softy and not much of a hard-ass biker chick at all – but it gives me a kick (ha ha) to stomp around in these boots that make me feel as if I could win any bar brawl…

For me, the shoes or boots that I wear can really affect Continue reading

You can be trained to walk perfectly poised in stilettos, says walking expert – High Heels Masterclass

I’ve been researching how the body moves when walking in high heels as part of the preparation for my solo show Bound Feet Blues. As I am performing the whole piece in bare feet, my aim is to give a flavour of the movements rather than walking in actual high heel shoes.

weak hip muscles

My Googling on the topic of walking in high heels took me to the Perfectly Poised website of a walking expert Martin Bell who offers a High Heels Masterclass. It looks like a brilliant service for all those women who Continue reading

What about these studded and strapped biker boots – would you wear these?

To counter balance the pic of high heel shoes I posted recently – which are not really shoes I’d wear these days – what about this pair of studded and strapped biker boots for women?

 

Would you wear these?

I surely would love a pair!

Though I’m not sure about the spikes in the toes and around the rim which could do my pals some damage if I crossed my legs and accidentally grazed their shins under the cafe table as we sip our lattes…

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Super-Models risk injury walking in High Heels

 

I used to think it was just me – that I couldn’t walk in high heels. I don’t know how many times I’ve sprained my ankles over the years wearing heels, supposedly in order to look poised and elegant. And it is excruciating when that ankle twists over and you can feel and hear your ligaments go crack…

This YouTube video shows that even
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Bound Feet Blues: Would you slice up your feet to fit into your shoes – like the ugly sisters in the Cinderella story?

In the Cinderella fairy tale, when the Prince finds the glass slipper dropped by Cinderella, he travels around the kingdom trying to find the woman whose foot is the perfect fit for the shoe. Many women long to marry the Prince, including Cinderella’s ugly sisters but their feet are too big – so they resort to chopping off their toes and their heels to make their feet fit into that single perfect glass slipper.

You think this is a fairy tale.

Well, think again.

It seems that women today are having foot surgery so that their feet fit more easily into high heel shoes or sandals, according to an article on Shape magazine on Cinderella Foot Surgery.

They are asking for toe shortenings… nail re-sizing, “foot facelifts,” “toe tucks,” and foot narrowing… [and] “toebesity” surgery [liposuction on fat toes]

Having spent so much time researching the brutal Continue reading

Forget stiletoes and painful feet, ugly shoes are IN! [Bound Feet Blues]

Ever since I’ve been working on my story project Bound Feet Blues, I’ve been drawn to news and other matters to do with women’s feet and shoes – especially anything that hobbles us, limits movements and involves pain.

I am excited to see a Guardian report on the rise of ugly – but comfortable – shoes.

Street Style - Day 6 : Paris Fashion Week - Womenswear Fall/Winter 2014-2015

The article quotes Natalie Kingham, head Continue reading

What can the new fashion for flat shoes tell us about the cultural need to control women? [Bound Feet Blues]

The Guardian has this amusing piece commenting on the new fashion for flat shoes for women.

“Fashion trends generated by the fashion industry exist to make life complicated…. Now that the fashion industry has realised that women are fed up with being told they need to wear five-inch heels to look stylish, they’ve proffered flat shoes, but complicated ones.”

For me, there’s also something about fashion that is meant to make those in the latest fashion feel special – AND to make those who don’t have the latest outfits and accessories feel small, ugly and humiliated.  It’s a power thing – a way to control women to fit in with the self-styled “elite” arbiters of what is fashionable. More than that, this mindset also extends to body image – by making us all want to fit in to an ideal skeletal body shape so that those who don’t end up  feeling shame and self-loathing. It’s a way of controlling women and our bodies.

In researching the history of bound feet for my story performance Bound Feet Blues, I’ve been reflecting on fashion and its insidious destructive power.  The elite in ancient China set the trend for bound feet and as it became more Continue reading