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British actress Keira Nightly is famous for being a shoeaholic. For women like her, shoes are not something they wear but something they worship. Considering them works of art, they buy shoes with sophisticated designs, decorated with gemstones and in bright colors. Shoes, they say, don¡¯t necessarily have to fit your feet. Just looking at them in showcases makes them feel happy. It¡¯s not illegal to use them for purposes other than wearing.
Not so long ago shoes were like watches: accessories rather than essentials. Now they are basic, which means eye-catching fashionable shoes can compensate for a mundane suit. In the U.S., sales of shoes reportedly amount to US$50 billion last year. Manolo Blahnik shoes priced at $7,500 a pair sell out as soon as they hit the store shelves. Patrick Cox shoes, famous for being the favorite of starlet Elizabeth Hurley, are now considered must-have items. According to Harper¡¯s Bazaar, more than half of 1,000 British women questioned by the magazine admitted to owning more than 30 pairs of shoes, and a quarter of them buy a pair of shoes that costs more their monthly income.
Korea is no exception. Lotte Department Store has seen shoe sales increase 17 percent for the last three months over the same period last year, while the store¡¯s total sales rose only in the single digits. Jimmy Choo, the shoe brand which opened in the premium brand shop Avenuel in May, sees an increase of over 5 percent in sales every month.
The hot item for this season are ¡°killer heel¡± shoes with an over-10 cm heel. As the world ¡°killer¡± indicates, it¡¯s hard to tell whether the shoe is a friendly force or an enemy for women. Designer Manolo Blahnik asserts high-heeled shoes are true works of art in the sense that they need a combination of technical and artistic elements such as proportion, balance, size, and volume, and even architectural elements.
Even dress pumps with a round nose and no straps come with a 10 cm heel. They tend to be enamel-colored and have fake jewel decorations and tiger-skin patterns -- all rare for pumps. Louis Vuitton has released pumps with crystals on the nose and buckles on the heel for added sophistication. Another feature for this season¡¯s shoes is to use of animal skin for sexiness. Snakeskin pumps by Loewe and Leopard-skin shoes by Fendi are so popular that the imitations have mushroomed.
Prada, famous for its comfortable shoes, has put out models with heels as high as 13 cm. Burberry and Escada, too, have joined the trend with their high-heeled Black Mary Jane shoes and lace shoes. If that is not enough, try Gucci¡¯s enamel-colored shoes. Gucci mended problems with high-heeled shoes, which tend to make their wearers lean forward and stagger, by putting soft material in the bottom of the shoes to increase comfort.
But beauty must suffer, which is why so many women squeeze their feet into Manolo Blahnik shoes despite the torture. In New York, the number of women who have developed problems with feet and waist from wearing killer heels has reportedly increased 30 percent every year. Some experts even warn that the killer heels can cause toe and disc deformities. But women who search for true beauty will say that comfort is simply not fashionable.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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