Heels seen in "The Guardian"

[at9]

A very nice collection on The Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2011/may/10/platforms-courts-high-heel-shoes#/?picture=374475712&index=0

The readers' comments are hardly inspiring.

[benno]

What was so negative about the readers comments? There were just as many positive ones. Remember that women are expected to wear high heels. Imagine the pressure to always conform... Having idiotic role models such as Skeletor Beckham doesn't help. I like high heels but I wouldn't wear 6 inch platforms everyday even if I could.

[Histiletto]

Opinions galore in the comment section and many of them seem to be from the "I don't like heels anyway" point of view. Platforms have been around in fashion cycles from the beginning of footwear. A couple of the more notable cycles were with King Louis XVI of France in the 1700's as he and the French aristocrats wore them with raised heel styling and in Japan, sandaled footwear with wooden dowels jotting toward the ground were popular in the Japanese cultures to keep people's feet above the mud and water that formed in the unpaved streets after it rained. So platforms are no strangers to the fashion history. However, up until recently, platforms were more like appliqued blocks on footwear. Now they are incorporated into the styling so that the transition between the footwear and the platform is more hidden and streamlined from many brands on the market. The developed contour presents an improved visual effect for the beholder. The look of platformed heels has become more pleasing and the heeler can wear taller heels while having the feel of lower heights. Like all items of choice, some favor wearing them and/or some like the feel and look of non-platformed heels. So wear the ones that fill the mood you're in and that fit your disgression for the occasion. As in most comment venues regarding high heels, the conversation usually leads someone to declare that men should wear the heels that men have designed for women. Obviously, we are not vocal or visual enough in showing these people there are men that have already been living this directive. Perhaps, we should give them some comfort and increase their cognizance concerning the world wide existance of male heelers.

[Foxyheels]

I think it's quite ironic that we worry about what others say behind our backs when we are spotted out and about in heels when the reality is that a woman in very high heels probably gets more negative comments from other women who are jealous. This comments to this article only proves that a lot of women view high heel wearers as simplistic bimbo types who wear high heeled shoes to get male attention and present themselves as sexual objects for the gratification of men. Green eyed monster comes to mind.