I’m afraid many women suffer of an unconscious form of masochism which pushes them to stand quite relevant pains in order to swing like big stilt birds on improbable high heeled shoes. I won’t get into this polemical topic, I prefer thinking of that from an historical point of view, since it’s not a recent fashionable habit at all, but has always been a component of what women considered an important element of their seducing charms.
In 15th century, Venetian prostitutes wore platform shoes, which were made of wood and elevated the wearer as much as a foot, or more, of the ground. They were totally unable to walk over cobbled narrow streets and bridges of Venice without being surrounded by a couple of helpers who had the duty to hold them to prevent them from ruinous falls.
In 15th century, Venetian prostitutes wore platform shoes, which were made of wood and elevated the wearer as much as a foot, or more, of the ground. They were totally unable to walk over cobbled narrow streets and bridges of Venice without being surrounded by a couple of helpers who had the duty to hold them to prevent them from ruinous falls.
Also in the only apparent serene
world of fairy tales (actually
there is nothing more disquieting and dark than the classic fairy tales, but it will be maybe the subject of another post) this self-destructive craving for torturing one’s own feet in name of seduction is symbolized by Cinderella and her famous shoes of glass.
I had always wondered as a child, how she could walk and dance wearing such uncomfortable, stiff and fragile footwear, but my limited knowledge of the matter was at that time only based on Walt Disney cartoon.
Only later, reading the original version of the fairy tale, I realize that what Cinderella wore, were not “shoes”, but actually slippers ( “pantoufle”in French).
Oh my, definitely imagining Cinderella going to the ball wearing slippers is not exactly very glamour, but much more comfortable.
Then I found out that Honoré de Balzac, the great French writer who might be considered the inventor of modern novel, had thought over about the contradictions of Cinderella and had suggested the hypothesis that the famous
shoes, which were definitely slippers, had not been made of glass, but of fur.
Actually the French word“ verre” ( glass) sounds very much like the word “ vair” which is an ancient French word meaning the fur of a little grey squirrel.
So according to Balzac’s male common sense, Cinderella had received from the fairy very warm and soft elegant slippers of fur, which noble people used to wear at that time.
It could explain why she could run so easily and fast when the clock struck midnight, but it remain the
doubt that a pair of furry slippers would not have matched that much her golden and silver ball dress.
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