As I open my shoe closet to select a pair of shoes, I finger the laces of my patent Givenchy peep-toe heels. A towering pair of Marni platforms with gigantic buckles is another option. Perhaps a pair of naughty Alaia platforms featuring a sexy, serpentine pointed heel would best suit me today.
Now I’m pondering, how much more licentious can these shoes get? The beginning of the 21st century has brought the arrival of the daytime fetish shoe. Season by season, the shoes get kinkier: how many 6 inch spikes in glistening patent with buckles and studs have become lust items of the season in the past few years? Perhaps the revival of the platform shoe has played a role in this phenomenon? What started out as a 1-inch sliver of wooden platform has become a solid 3-inch chunk of shoe.
Heels are higher than they’ve been since the scaffolding Chinese shoes of the 16th century (the YSL Tribute, arguably a ‘daytime shoe‘, measures at about five and a half inches). Bruno Frisoni is a connoisseur of the fetish shoe: his signature towering platforms with the criss-cross straps are sublimely ‘stripper chic’. This silhouette, despite its seedy connotations, has been propelled to the forefront of fashion. Those with a penchant for Prada, Zannoti, and Lanvin often joke about their ‘shoe fetish,’ but as of late designers seem to be taking this sentiment very seriously.
As a die-hard shoe enthusiast, this extremist trend in footwear is a dream come true. Yes, these shoes may be deemed inappropriate. A pair of bondage-like studded Burberries do attract stares and disapproving looks from passer-by’s. This is part of the attraction: it’s secretly thrilling to wear your sky-high studded Louboutins with a prim wool shift dress. Their taboo appeal makes them all the more irresistible and the scornful stares make them that much more delicious. As a consumer you have to wonder: are we being exploited or served? Either way, there is something covetable about kinky shoes. The sense of power you derive from the ownership of a pair of Alaia heels fit for a dominatrix makes this trend one of my favorites and one that I hope will last for seasons to come.
Photos courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
