In a recent interview with Vogue, legendary shoe designer Christian Louboutin declared that "People say I am the king of painful shoes. I don't want to create painful shoes, but it is not my job to create something comfortable. I try to make high heels as comfortable as they can be, but my priority is design, beauty and sexiness. I'm not against them, but comfort is not my focus."
He brings into focus the long standing debate on whether shoes should be practical, or whether true fashion does indeed mean sacrificing comfort. If Louboutin's with their average heel hight of 5 inches are anything to go by, then he is arguably in favour of the latter. After all, you never hear a pair of Ugg boots being described as sexy or provocative by women or especially by men.
Take Anna Dello Russo, editor at large for Japanese Vogue, for example. She is constantly pushing the boundaries of fashion and would never be seen out in a hoodie or tracksuit bottoms, or dare I say it, flats. If fashion magazines were full of pictures of people in sensible and comfortable outfits then people would simply never buy them. Yes, the pieces shown on the catwalks during Fashion week are then scaled down to something more commercially viable, but if these shows paraded these latter designs, then attendance would be severely lacking. Fashion is meant to excite and inspire, and it is the boundary pushing and outrageous ideas of these designers that allows this.
Ironically, balancing precariously on a pair of 5 inch heels is more empowering than the comfort or safety of a pair of flats. Although saying this, the last time I braved my Louboutin wedges I ended up flat on my face. This pursuit of beauty and desireability is something that designers such as Christian Louboutin tap into. The fierceness of a pair of skyscraper heels acts as a kind of armour, a warning to any onlooker that this wearer means business. A woman's need to feel powerful, even when she is at her most vulnerable, is something that a pair of flats could never provide.
Net-a-porter are currently selling his Alti 160 spiked leather pumps, a direct challenge to the wearer not to feel powerful and seductive when wearing these.
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