New York Times

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Hear is a artical from The New Yrok Times.........

When Pretty Shoes Turn Cruel

here has been a lot of weather going on in New York this year, most of it wet. Not to mention the big blackout. What all these things had in common was the fact that it was almost impossible to deal with them in high-heeled shoes.

The fault, it seems, lies with Leonardo da Vinci. Though the evidence is not conclusive, some historians believe that Leonardo, the original Renaissance man, may have invented that most exquisite and ubiquitous of torture devices, the high heel.

The height-enhancing shoes were an immediate winner with European royalty, both men and women. Centuries later, it's everyday women who are footing the bill. When the blackout occurred, shoe stores closed along with most other businesses, and women without flat, accommodating shoes faced a painful choice: risk blisters and other ailments while looking fabulous in Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks or less-heralded push-up shoes, or pound the pavement in bare or stocking feet.

You cannot walk miles on squeezed and compacted tiptoes. Neither can you leap across a very large puddle in the more glamorous versions of the high heel, and we have spent a great deal of time with puddles this year. There have actually, when you think of it, been a relatively small number of days that didn't cry out for second-best sneakers, or maybe designer galoshes. Having a pair of sensible shoes is like eating spinach, a commendable idea. But how often does a bowl of greens win out over a bowl of ice cream? High heels are an indulgence, one best enjoyed while sitting down, preferably in nonemergency situations.

The Department of Homeland Security advises that "sturdy shoes" be included in the survival kits we have all been urged to assemble, but that may leave too much to the wearer's discretion. The shoes that will carry a person comfortably through any situation not involving a salad fork are bound to be pedestrian, in every sense of the word.

Here the link to the actual article, but you are going have to register if you have not all ready been.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/opinion/20SAT4.html?th

[Bubba136]

"High heels are an indulgence, one best enjoyed while sitting down, preferably in nonemergency situations. " the author has a point.

[Laurieheels]

Admittedly, most women do wear the wrong size and are not ultra proficient in their heels. But come on, if they did things right, there wouldn't be any squeezing and crushing of tip toes because the sizing would have been done right, and that would mean more comfort, and maybe the ability to jump a puddle. Of course, the puddles just mean men should be out there with their jackets, covering them for all of these well heeled ladies. Except for those of us who don't mind walking through puddles, regardless of the shoes we are wearing. Oh, and maybe one I can think of might be able to leap the puddle and land safe, even in heels.

[BobHH]

1) I have heard of push-up bras, but what are push-up shoes? 2) What's the fun of sitting down in your high heels? Walking is more fun!

[J-Nation]

never heard of 'toe cleavage'?! Emma

[Heelfan]

Emma! Toe cleavage! - Now you're talking! I could look at the "Lovely Pumps" site all day! Cheerfully yours, Heelfan

[Tom-NL]

Emma,

HF is talking about this website:

http://lovelypumps.hypermart.net