Heels That Kill

High-heeled shoes - and the higher the better - force girls' bodies forward from the pelvis and make them move in a way they simply don't when wearing a pair of wellies or flat pumps. It's all to do with the movement of the derriere. Legs feel sexy and calves look sculptured in high heels.

But that isn't the whole story. Shoes have special properties because they draw attention to the most erotically under-played portion of the female anatomy: the foot. Foot worship goes way back to the 13th century and beyond and was a central core of Chinese culture for generations. Indeed, strapping your feet in high heels is actually parallel to committing your feet to the torturous practice of foot binding during the Qing.

But what the shoes are about is glamour: the amalgam of sexiness and sophistication which only the best designers get right. Compare a shoe by Gucci with a cheaper attempt at the same look (and designer shoes are expensive), and you see the difference immediately. It is always worth the while to pay $300 for a pair of good high heels. A good (and expensive) pair subjects a girl's delicate feet to less injury.

Tinselly sparkle, in shoes as in everything else, needs a sure hand to stop it from slipping into naffery. A good high-heeled shoe has the rhythm of a piece of sculpture and the poise of a complicated feat of engineering. It must have balance and strength, as well as beauty. It also gives the wearer an erotic charge - even when every step is agony. Indeed the pain is part of the sexuality.

The pain, oh yes, the glorious pain have to be endured after at most two hours of walking in a pair of high heels. Depending on the height and the material of the heels, there are varying degrees of sores, blisters and raw skin. The steep arch in a pair of heels bring disastrous effects to a girl's knees, lower back bone, feet (for having to bend so unnaturally), especially the balls of the feet (as the girl's whole weight fall onto just 20% of her sole) shoulders, ankles. She practically walks on tiptoe and teeters dangerously. More often than not, she needs to massage her calves at the end of the day and soothe the blisters on her toes and balls of her soles. A warm soak is heavenly to your sore feet - if there is no injury (hurts like hell to dip raw skin in water)

Wearing high heels, although very uncomfortable, puts the girls in charge. And bearing in mind the pain was a crucial part of it; it made them feel strong. Why else do they wear heels with their power suits?

The tip-tap of the tiny but tall heels is the new sound and it brings a warning, It's not for nothing that stiletto heels were named after the deadliest rapier of them all.

"A stiletto is a long, narrow-bladed dagger. This dagger is designed as a stabbing weapon, rather than for cutting, since its long narrow shape allows it to penetrate deeply in a point." - Wikipedia

These shoes are killers.

- Adapted from "The Killer Heels" from the Daily Mail