Are you sure you want to clamber
on to those sky-high stilettoes?
I must confess that I was among those
astounded to see Melania Trump perched atop a pair of vertiginous stilettoes as
she departed the White House with her husband, Donald, on a trip to visit those
affected by Hurricane Harvey. Was this really the right kind of footwear to
wear to a disaster zone, I mused on Twitter.
To be fair to the American First Lady,
she ditched the heels inflight and alighted in Texas wearing a pair of spotless
white tennis shoes. But the whole brouhaha about Melania’s footwear, with
social media going into meltdown and fashion glossies weighing in with their
verdict on her style choices, reminded me yet again that when it comes to
women, shoes are rarely simply shoes. They always carry a subliminal message
within them, sending out signals with every clack of the heels or thump of the
boot.
Five-inch heels don’t just tell the world
that you have a high pain threshold, they also indicate that you don’t ever need
to use public transport. A sensible kitten heel (like the ones the British
Prime Minister Theresa May favours) marks you out as someone who values both
comfort and style. A no-nonsense boot with a chunky heel tells you that its
owner doesn’t mess about. And flats are the choice of a woman who stands tall
in her own estimation, who doesn’t need a few extra inches to boost her
self-esteem. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Shoes tell a story. Shoes are an
essential part of your self-image, the narrative you are trying to establish
about yourself. And the story is not just about who you are but what you want
to be; it’s not just about how you project yourself to the world, but also
about how the world sees you.
Speaking for myself, I always feel
faintly perturbed when I see those all-pervasive images of the Trump women –
Melania, Ivanka, Tiffany – always balanced perfectly on those sky-high heels,
walking with almost balletic grace, presenting a picture of Goddess-like
perfection that is impossible for mere mortals like us to achieve. These women
are far above us – both literally and metaphorically – as they sway gently
along, their feet floating five inches above the ground.
How on earth do they do that? It must be
hell on the soles of their feet, their bunions, their knees and their backs.
And yet, there they are, day in and day out, walking past the cameras, working those
ridiculously high heels, smiling and waving as if their feet weren’t killing
them, one step at a time.
And it’s not just the Trump triumvirate
either. Who can forget the sight of that Stiletto Slayer formerly known as Kate
Middleton and now styled as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stomping through
Delhi and Mumbai during her State visit to India, her feet forever encased in
high heels that seemed to have been grafted on to her soles? It didn’t matter
if she was visiting a slum, hanging out with school kids or trying her hand at
cricket; whatever she did, wherever she went, the heels stayed on.
As if these images weren’t enough,
popular culture is also teeming with women, who live their lives in their
stilettoes. There’s Téa Leoni in Madam Secretary, flying off to trouble spots
all over the world in her high heels. There’s Sophia Vergara in Modern Family,
who slips on her stilettoes to cook breakfast for the family. And then, there’s
our very own Priyanka Chopra who hunts terrorists in Quantico while working a
five-inch heel.
In real life, too, I know far too many
women who spend their working day balancing on high heels as if their life
depended on it. Ask them why and they will explain that they find their heels
‘empowering’. Those extra inches enable them to look their male colleagues and
bosses in the eye and give them an extra fillip of confidence. They feel more
put together, more in control, more business-like and professional when they
are in their heels.
And who knows. Maybe they are right. What
does a woman like me, who lives in her ballet flats, know about stuff like
that?
But when they start telling me how
‘comfortable’ they are in their five-inch heels, and how they can even run in
them, I’m afraid I reach the limits of my credulity. Sorry ladies, but I’m not
buying that. Show me a woman who swears that her stilettoes don’t leave her in
a world of pain at the end of the day, and I will show you a liar. Even the
superwoman, Catherine, slips a silicone pad into her shoes to lessen the strain
on her soles as she goes through her royal engagements. So, don’t tell me those
shoes don’t hurt.
But such is the insidious grip that these
objects of torture have on the female imagination that even today among the
first rites of passage a young girl goes through is buying her first pair of
heels. She teeters around proudly while her mother (who really should know
better by now) watches proudly. Her girl is finally blossoming into a woman –
and part of being a woman is that your feet hurt all the time.
How I wish someone would take these
little girls aside and tell them it doesn’t have to be like that. Dancing in
heels may make them feel glamorous and grown-up. But running in flats, that’s
what is really empowering.
