Maverick Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/victoria/welcome-to-heelsville-elevation-20cm-20120316-1vatr.html Welcome to Heelsville, elevation 20cm Janice Breen Burns March 17, 2012 ANTHONY Bianco makes high-heeled platform shoes that can lift a woman up to 16 centimetres off the ground. If she can walk in them without wobbling or the bandy gait of a sailor, her reward is an elegant chin-up posture, a flattering variation in her height-to-weight ratio and, most desirable of all, the acceptance of her fashionable peers. Bianco has sold thousands of these miraculous clodhoppers under his Tony Bianco brand in the past seven to eight years. It's a lifespan much longer than most fashion fads, but he gave up trying to fathom why. ''We've even tried to kill it off a couple of times, but it's never died,'' he says cheerfully. ''Sometimes we thought it had slowed down a bit, but then it would just take off again.'' New generations of young women have flocked to buy higher and higher heels and wedges despite risks, from bunions to broken bones, and viral images of hundreds of fashion models wobbling and tumbling on catwalks across the world. ''There are girls now, 15 and 16, 20 and 25, who've never seen anything bar a platform,'' Bianco says. ''They're so used to walking far off the ground anything lower seems strange.'' Supermodel Naomi Campbell's legs-akimbo crash on Vivienne Westwood's catwalk set a legendary standard in 1993. And, models have ''done a Naomi'' in spectacular style since. At Australian Fashion Week 2010, for example, it was inevitable one would tumble off designer Elliot Ward-Fear's 20-centimetre platforms. ''Drama,'' he said simply. ''Catwalk theatre. The higher the better. High shoes take a silhouette to that next level, push the boundaries of conceptual fashion.'' Ward-Fear also likes their more subtle effect. ''You hold yourself differently when you feel the need for more control of body movement,'' he explained. ''When there is that element of risk.'' He is now working on show-stopper 45-centimetre platforms weighing 2½ kilos each. Any woman brave enough to wear them, he said, ''more power to them''. This week's L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival logged a relatively minor ''model wobble'' incident. However, it was significant considering CEO Graeme Lewsey's policy of model care and safety, and a specially commissioned non-slip catwalk. In one of its highest-profile shows, several models opted to remove their stiletto heeled dagger-toed platforms halfway down the runway rather than risk a topple. ''There's no doubt the [toppling incidents] have increased, probably since those amazing shoes of Alexander McQueen's,'' Lewsey said. ''We have to think of safety first and if models feel uncomfortable or threatened, definitely advise them to remove the shoes and continue.'' According to Dr David Lunz, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, platform shoes aren't always the horrors they appear. ''Pick an open toe, or one not too narrow so your toes aren't compressed,'' he said. ''Don't wear them to and from work perhaps, and kick them off at lunchtime.'' A wedge platform also generates a shallower, and less injurious angle for the foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilikekicks Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was looking at those pictures and a thought that immediately came to mind was ' Those women have no meat at all on their bones and it makes those shoes look like bricks or Yachts on their feet '. They are all tall and probably weigh like 100 lbs soaking wet. REPEATEDLY ARGUMENTATIVE, INSULTING AND RUDE. BANNED FOR LIFE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Most likely the models were given the shoes for the day that unfortunately don't correctly fit and as most of us know is a recipe for disaster. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinysoles Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Most likely the models were given the shoes for the day that unfortunately don't correctly fit and as most of us know is a recipe for disaster. Al Lucky sods,get given sexy heels to wear for the day and then get paid nicely for the priviledge,life is sooo unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roniheels Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Most likely the models were given the shoes for the day that unfortunately don't correctly fit and as most of us know is a recipe for disaster. Al Good point. How many times have we heard of those who try to walk in high heels that do fit properly and have all kinds of problems, not only with walking but with their feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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