What Goes Around, Comes Around
In Medieval Chinese cultures women's feet were bound as children so they would not exceed the length of three inches. Who would think of such a thing? Today's designers, that's who! The shoes women crave are just plain uncomfortable--certainly not made for walking more than a few feet.
Kelly Ripa had a spectacular pair of platform sandals on during her show last week, but confused guest host, Bryant Gumbel questioned Ripa's assertion that the 6" heels and 2" platform were comfortable. He mentioned that when his wife and he go to a neighborhood restaurant, she refuses to walk the mere six blocks it takes to get there (we know...a lot of guys can relate). Ripa countered that for her, all a pair of shoes had to do was get her from the front door to the table. For that privilege, shoes like Ripa's can start at $500 a pop. Practicality? Who cares?
I was at a wedding Saturday, and by the time the dancing started, few women were still wearing the shoes they came in. Teetering on four-inch heels? Wobbling on 2" platforms? Cinderellas in glass slippers shouldn't throw stones. It was a garden wedding in Florida, so we weren't stomping around barefoot in snow or on a dirty ballroom floor, but still...
I don't want to judge women who wear the recycled hip-hugging bell bottoms, platforms, or baby doll dresses, but as a rule of thumb, most of us who wore them decades before can't wear them now, so where are the stylish fashions for the rest of us average (ahem) mature women? Apart from longer hair and five-o'clock-shadow (if you're not George Clooney, trust me, you look dirty or menacing), men don't usually succumb to drastic fashion revivals. Why do we women get sucked in?
I'd also like to see underwire bras go the way of Victorian whalebone corsets, with their devilish hardware that pokes at tender midriffs, and pushes and prods cleavage out of the flattest fried eggs. Did I say Victorian corsets? A bustier has bones in it--it's a corset.
Recycling the worst fashions, and paying a premium for it. That's genius marketing. Are women more susceptible to this, or are men just as bad?
Kelly Ripa had a spectacular pair of platform sandals on during her show last week, but confused guest host, Bryant Gumbel questioned Ripa's assertion that the 6" heels and 2" platform were comfortable. He mentioned that when his wife and he go to a neighborhood restaurant, she refuses to walk the mere six blocks it takes to get there (we know...a lot of guys can relate). Ripa countered that for her, all a pair of shoes had to do was get her from the front door to the table. For that privilege, shoes like Ripa's can start at $500 a pop. Practicality? Who cares?
I was at a wedding Saturday, and by the time the dancing started, few women were still wearing the shoes they came in. Teetering on four-inch heels? Wobbling on 2" platforms? Cinderellas in glass slippers shouldn't throw stones. It was a garden wedding in Florida, so we weren't stomping around barefoot in snow or on a dirty ballroom floor, but still...
I don't want to judge women who wear the recycled hip-hugging bell bottoms, platforms, or baby doll dresses, but as a rule of thumb, most of us who wore them decades before can't wear them now, so where are the stylish fashions for the rest of us average (ahem) mature women? Apart from longer hair and five-o'clock-shadow (if you're not George Clooney, trust me, you look dirty or menacing), men don't usually succumb to drastic fashion revivals. Why do we women get sucked in?
I'd also like to see underwire bras go the way of Victorian whalebone corsets, with their devilish hardware that pokes at tender midriffs, and pushes and prods cleavage out of the flattest fried eggs. Did I say Victorian corsets? A bustier has bones in it--it's a corset.
Recycling the worst fashions, and paying a premium for it. That's genius marketing. Are women more susceptible to this, or are men just as bad?
posted by Maddox Smye at
9:23 AM
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