Red and blue, glass and shoes

4 Dec 2007, 09:24

Smashed glass and stripey shoes, originally uploaded by dreadfuldan.

When I wore mary janes a lot, I used to be into the toes turned in thing. This photo is suddenly making me uncomfortable about it, presented like that with no irony at all regarding women in fancy shoes standing like little girls. I’m hoping my general hairiness was enough to contrast and balance the baby toes.

I had never related the toes to the shoes until last week. I noticed that when I wear my boots I tend to stand like Captain America, feet planted especially wide. Design affordance, I guess. Superhero boots afford superhero stances.

Comments

Superhero tights afford great lunging possibilities, too.

Also, congratulations on the new design!

— Galen · 6 December 2007, 20:06

I used to be into turning my toes in, too. Recently, I’ve been disturbed by Japanese girls who seems to have messed up their legs because they were more committed to the practice than I was. Good thing we got over that.

— Erin · 9 December 2007, 23:07

My mum broke her ankle falling off a platform sandle in the sixties… there are many foot fashion bullets to dodge!

I wish I could read Japanese, to find some comments from folks who actually do the stereotypical pigeon-toed Japanese schoolgirl shuffle. I’ve searched a couple of times (and just did again) to try to confirm whether it is really a holdover from walking in kimonos (or sandles, or slippers, or from sitting with folded legs, or calcium deficiency, or just a temporary affectation…). It’s really hard to find anything other than a bunch of westerners following either “asian babes: so hot right now” or “backwards foreigners: they can’t walk” modes of discussion. Lots of worrying that Japanese girls are wrecking their bodies to conform to standards of femininity. Ah yes, so exotic and unusual.

Anyway. Yeah. I’m glad you and I stand with comfortable toes and ankles now! I’m reading a book about Tantra, and it suggests walking with a round, extra-relaxed tummy to avoid storing tension, so that’s my next move as far as radicalizing my personal locomotion.

— Sarah · 10 December 2007, 10:46





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