Signs of the times

[BobHH]

1) The Elle magazine web site has Maybelline pages showing fashion pics. One is of a man wearing lipstick and a dress. 2) Last Sunday's newspaper had a picture, apparently from Austria or Switzerland in the Alps, showing a steep walkway and a sign reading "High-heeled shoes prohibited" with a picture of a stiletto pump with the red circle and a line through it. 3) I found a coffee cup in Australia covered with pictures of high heel pumps, and the words "It's a tough climb to the top ... especially in high heels!" Yes, I bought it.

[squirrelheels]

Re No 2 I've seen that sign before, near very uneven ground (i.e. old and badly-layed cobble stones). At the time, I was quite young, and wasn't into heels. That sounds like a cool mug I want one! SH

[Highluc]

By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff, 3/27/2003 o Barbara Thornton, the market is, quite literally, still growing. Girls as young as 12 - with shoe sizes the same as their age - are descending upon her tiny Newbury Street retail space, which sells hard-to-find designer footwear in sizes from 8 to 14 and in widths from quadruple-A narrow to extra W. Thornton, who founded Designer Shoes.com, has a hunch as to why young women's feet are, on average, a size larger than their mothers' and grandmothers'. ''I think it's Title IX,'' Thornton, 55, says of the landmark 1972 federal law that called for gender equity in sports as well as academia. ''That's my own personal theory. When I was growing up, girls didn't do sports. Girls are more athletic today, running up and down soccer fields since they were 5 years old. Their feet are catching up in size - as the bones get used, they grow. I had a woman who moved to New York and her feet grew two sizes from walking long distances on hard surfaces.'' While feet may be catching up to a more rugged generation, the shoe industry is not. An NPD Fashion World survey in 2000 found that 37 percent of women wore a size 9 or larger, but most department stores - facing space constraints and the small percentage of their customers who wear unusual sizes - tend to stock only medium-width shoes between sizes 51/2 and 10, with few pairs at either extreme. What's a 12 extra wide to do besides wear men's sneakers? ''They've always been a little bit insulted by the shoe industry,'' says Thornton, her feet in a stylish pair of kitten-heel slingbacks, size 111/2. ''I would say a large portion of our customers have been reduced to tears. People internalize it and feel they're inadequate.'' What's worse, Thornton says, larger shoes are often made cheaply and found at places such as Payless ShoeSource or J. C. Penny. Thornton, a graduate of Harvard Business School, has been working to change that since, five years ago, she launched the website (where 80 percent of sales come from) and the sunny boutique on Newbury Street, a floor below a modeling agency that provides its own stream of customers. While she will not quote sales figures or the specific number of hits on the website, she does say business has increased about 60 percent per year. She has convinced Hollywould - a trendy label whose designer has a cousin in the WNBA - to make their shoes in larger sizes. DesignerShoes.com also carries Moda, which does Prada knockoffs, as well as Anne Klein, which recently decided to carry shoes as large as size 12, and Stuart Weitzman, known for his occasion shoes. The shop also stocks Donald J. Pliner, New Balance sneakers, Naturalizer walking shoes, and dyeables for proms or weddings. One thing the shop does not carry: anything remotely resembling orthopedic footwear. ''These women just want girlie shoes,'' she says. ''They'll come in here and they'll cry, too, but for a very different reason.'' This story ran on page D3 of the Boston Globe on 3/27/2003.

[azraelle]

from the www.designershoes.com website referenced above:

Footwear Facts and Quotes

If high heels were so wonderful, men would be wearing them.

-Sue Grafton

Shoes That Hurt:

Eight out of 10 women polled by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons said their shoes were painful.

Nine out of 10 women wear shoes that are too small, according to the same survey.

Women's Feet are Becoming Larger:

In 1986, 12% of American women had shoe sizes 9.5 and higher. In 1994, that number increased to 17%. In 1998, 30.4% of all women's shoes sold were size 9 and above.

A sample survey showed that 60% of women's feet increased in shoe size since age 20.

You can not put the same shoe on every foot.

-Publilius Syrus, Maxim 593

The average increase in the protrusion of a woman's buttocks is 25% when she wears high heels. (Harper's Index)

If you know more facts or quotes, please send them to us!

their email address is "info@designershoes.com"

[onyourtoes]

Eight out of 10 women polled by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons said their shoes were painful.

Nine out of 10 women wear shoes that are too small, according to the same survey.

I wonder how far from their offices these orthopaedic surgeons went to find survey subjects?

I can vouch for women's feet getting bigger. When I was 16, I could go to the size 10 section of a shoe department and be alone for hours. Now, 40 years later, I have to take a number and wait just to get near the 11's.

[Joak]

Well,

never recognized a sign "High-heeled shoes prohibited" in Austria and I was there several times. But yes, there are some walkways which aren't the best place for wearing the high heels:

This one is made in Austria - but maybe they have added the sign because of that now

best wishes

Joak

http://www.joak.org

[Francis]

I don't think the goatherd will be alone for long as she wear those shoes

[High Surprise]

Nice pic Joak. Those spikey high style suit you a lot!

[Slim]

I recently read where the median womans foot size in the us is 8 1/2, one size larger than it used to be. I recently got a pair of boots, Steve Madden 9B's, they are on the tight side. The sales girl told me that many girls struggle to get them on, even 10"s, then leave empty handed. We fellows better watch out we may be becoming the smaller sex!

[Yamyam]

Let's hope the manufacturers catch on soon. I could do with a better choice in an 8/9UK. Actually, no, I'd just spend too much on shoes again.