Beauty before pain

By Malu Fernandez

In the early 20th century, women finally liberated themselves from the corset and were finally allowed to breathe properly. Before that it was simply de rigueur to wear those tight contraptions lest you be labelled a common hussy. After years of endless suffering, we chose to suffer yet again by idolizing the proverbial stiletto heel. What woman doesn?t have a pair of four-inch stilettos in her closet? Be it Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo or Janylin, every woman has a pair of stiletto heels in her wardrobe. How often they are worn is another story.

Lately Filipinos have been a bit lackadaisical about their choice of footwear. Havaianas have become the acceptable choice of footwear or any other form of slipper. Just go around the shopping malls you will see at least seven out of 10 people wearing some kind of flip-flops. It has been quite obvious that we have adapted the casual style of Southern California, traipsing around in shorts and flip-flops at the mall. Now, on the other extreme, you see the more fashion-forward young women influenced by pop culture and fashion magazines, teeter tottering in their high heels worn with short shorts looking like a cross between hooker on Times Square and Beyonc? in one of her videos.

I shudder to think of what happened to us in the last 30 years. When did going out in your pambahay or looking like a street walker become acceptable? Then it dawned upon me that it was all about the shoes!!! You have young women running around in flip-flops as a silent rebellion to wearing high heels?at least I?d like to think so. The aesthetic appeal and the attraction to the high heel is so strong it is always somehow attached to the notion of helping women look more sexually attractive just like corset.

In the 18th and 19th century, having a really small waist empowered you as a woman and made you more sexually attractive. Think Scarlett O Hara in Gone with the Wind. She had mammy tighten her corset to a point where she couldn?t breathe in order to have a waist that would attract all the men at the picnic. Which is why back then, women were considered the weaker sex. Duh, if you had to wear those things day in and out, you would be weak as well not being able to breathe properly! Now that we have finally liberated ourselves from the torturous device, we had to find another way to torture ourselves with high heels.

Men love high heels and equate them with sex. Men generally prefer women in high heels. The higher the better and fashion likes to sell sex and sex appeal so high heels have become a perfect symbol for expressing your sexuality in today?s culture. But how many of you women out there can really last all day in a pair of four-inch heels? Unless you?re Victoria Beckham, I?d say an hour or two at the most. I agree they look attractive and they make your legs look slimmer and longer but the repercussions can be painful and any of you who have partied all night trying to look good in heels will know what I?m talking about.

Often, when I attend these society parties, I see the most beautiful shoes on women only to be removed as the night wears on. They end up barefoot on the dance floor the later it gets. I, on the other hand, always carry an extra pair of shoes and reluctantly change into a lower heel as the night wears on. I think there should be a warning label on every high heel shoe that states: prolonged wearing may cause back pain, foot injuries, leg muscle injuries etc... Just many of the injuries associated with the prolonged use of high heels should deter women from wearing it. But the most obvious reason is the feeling of pain after wearing them for a few hours.

Some women like bags. Well, I am a shoe girl and I can?t tell you how many pairs of beautiful painful shoes sit in my closet today that I can?t part with. So I totally understand the whole appeal of beautiful painful shoes. Just like the era of corsets, it is always beauty before pain, which explains why so many women buy painfully high heels.

But don?t fret. A new procedure in the US where plastic surgeons are injecting collagen to the balls of women?s feet is becoming increasingly popular in order to accommodate the high-heel craze. Anything to look good I suppose. Now, plastic surgery ?it?s a whole lot of suffering to look beautiful in itself but that?s a whole other topic. Till then I suggest you shell out a few bucks and purchase a Dr. Scholl gel pad for the balls of your feet. Or get used to staring at a closet full of pain!