posted August 05, 2006 03:00 PM         

Besides, I am over 6 feet tall and don't see the need for any more height. I have a hard time walking near some things cause I hit my head on stuff and I think being taller would increase the incidents. I slouch enough as it is with working with the developmentally disabled - the wheelchairs handles are set very low for me and the handicapped kitchen counters etc are very low......

my 2 cents.

posted August 05, 2006 04:01 PM         

I remember my old boss wore 4 inch Prada heels every single day to work. This was a retail job...she would stand there in these insane shoes for 8 hrs++!!

I like to wear high heels -- but ONLY for special occasions.

Yes, I love how they look. They're sexy, and I get to be 5'10" for a day.

But they're sooo not for every day use. I will not sacrifice my feet for beauty. I'm astonished at women who wear them all the time.

I look at the girls in Sex and the City, running in the rain in stilletos -- and I just think -- HOW?!?!

posted August 05, 2006 11:51 PM         

I don't always like how heels look and I'm very finicky about what I'll wear. So I don't have very many.

posted August 06, 2006 12:47 PM         

Anyway how this came up:we guys were looking at girls,noticed some of them were wearing extremely stupid looking heels(they were really like stilts),and thats how this discussion came up...then one of the guys said it makes their butts grow bigger too...everybody burst out laughing

Another guy said they wear heels to compensate for their height,cause they feel stupid when theyre really short...

Anyway,I dont care if a girl wears heels or not,they do look good... I dont know why but heels make a girl look like she's a lil' arrogant...and a lil' devilish!(a good thing at times )

Lots of my girl friends are short,it's good fun teasing them when they wear high heels,they take it in the right spirit and tease me back cause I'm pretty tall(6'3)...

Soooo wow! sooo much thought going into heels..oppression...brain damage :O

P.S:I think heels are connected to the brain,not the toes...

P.S2:The girls i like usually do not wear heels

P.S3:I prefer a girl with intelligence(doesnt everybody,what a stupid question),though the dumbo girls are fun to be with at times...cause they are soo dumb,but it gets irritating after a while...

posted August 06, 2006 01:35 PM         

The origin of the high heel goes back many centuries in history. The first precursors of stiletto heels were discovered in a tomb of Tebas in Old Egypt, and date from 1000 BC. These heels possibly provided a high social status to those who wore them.

The idea prevailed in Old Greece, where Esquilo, the first great Greek theatrical author mounted his actors on platform shoes of differing heights to indicate each character's social status. The same idea existed in the East. The Japanese emperor Hirohito was crowned in 1926 on platform shoes with a height of 30 cm.

High heels are associated with sex. Japanese courtiers had clogs of 15 to 30 cm, Chinese concubines and Turkish odalisques had high sandals possibly to prevent them from escaping from the harem, and prostitutes of Old Rome were identified by their high heels.

The modern European fashion of the high heel comes from the Italian "chapiney" or "chopine" style: mounted shoes on a 15 to 42 cm high cylinder. Some reached 75 cm and the ladies who wore them had to lean on sticks so that they could walk.

In 1430 chopines were prohibited in Venice, but nothing could stop the trend. The invention of the high heel is attributed to Catherine of Medici in Paris, in the 16th century, who used them due to her short stature, and soon introduced them into fashion amongst the European aristocracy.

In the 17th century, the English Parliament punished as witches all women who used high heels to seduce men into marrying them. In his biography, the famous Giovanni Casanova declared his love for high heels, which raised women's hoop skirts, thus showing their legs.

In the 19th century, high heels were introduced into the USA, imported from brothels in Paris because of the success they had had amongst the clientele who preferred to hire the services of prostitutes who wore these heels.

Designer shoes didn't exist as such before the 20th century, it was more an activity within the modest shoemaker profession. The industry of mass-production of footwear had its beginnings in the USA, where what began as a family activity of colonists from New England, ended in the appearance of the first shops in the middle of the 18th century.

The tradition of handmade shoes, like the famous designer, is to a great extent a European phenomenon, in countries such as England and Italy. Also in France, where footwear design was intimately related to dressmaking, whose Parisian industry was founded by the Englishman Charles Frederick Worth in 1858, and it was the first of prominence in the world of fashion, to the point where he dressed the whole of European royalty.

Around the shops of Worth other fashion houses arose, such as Paquin, Chernit and Doucet, which transformed Paris into the world capital of fashion. Some shoemakers who worked for these houses became independent and worked as designers. Among them, Pinet in particular arrived in Paris in 1855 to work with the house of Worth, and created the heel that has his name, finer and straighter than the popular "Louis".

Another outstanding creator was Pietro Yanturni who called himself "the most expensive shoemaker in the world", with an exclusive clientele of only 20 clients, and whose shoes are actually being exhibited at present in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Andre Perugia followed him. His shoes are exhibited in the Musee de la Chaussure, in Romans, France.

In 1900 there were still reminders of the previous century. It was still considered indecent for a woman to show her naked extremities. Comfort prevailed in detriment to style, which was relegated to the privacy of the home. In public, tight and buttoned boots were worn.

This changed after the First World War. With the improvement of the economy, the ribbon shoe arrived with its pointed toes and high heels of the "Louis" type. There was an explosion of colour and high heels were even used for dancing.

The Thirties brought the Great Depression and had its repercussions on fashion. Heels became lower and wider. Walking boots competed with sandals that ended the influence of lounge shoes, whose pointed toes and heels could not be exposed.

In the Twenties and Thirties some academic women condemned high heels, but it was during the Second World War that they were in real danger due to the rationing of leather. The Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo found the solution by developing the wedge-shaped cork platform. This became fashionable after the war, when more elegant designs were demanded.

posted August 06, 2006 02:06 PM         

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see this cute blog by a man chronicling his wife's obsession with high heels.

http://www.bloggerme.co.uk/the_uk_web_log_forum/1_more_of_my_wifes_shoes/index.html