The First Pair of Heels
When I was little, I was obsessed with Cinderella. I didn’t want to be her; but I felt envious.
Not because she ended up with Prince Charming, and not because I had some secret maid
complex. It was her shoes.
complex. It was her shoes.
Do you remember your first pair of heels? I’m not talking those one-inch patent-leather Mary Janes you wore when you were a flower girl to your mother’s cousin’s wedding. I mean, heels.
Mine were silver platform sandals with a four-inch stacked heel and embroidery and pearls across the toes. There were ankle straps (thank goodness for those ankle straps or somebody might have wound up with a head injury).
Shoes are a funny friends, aren’t they? As Rose Feller says in In Her Shoes, “‘shoes always fit.’ They can make or break an outfit, give you confidence as wide as the Mississippi – you could rule the world in the right pair of heels.”
That silhouette, the way they make your legs look, the height! Finding the right shoe will give you an adrenaline rush that’s comparable to any NFL football player. There has been much ado about why women are so obsessed with shoes. Research includes books and documentaries. Popular mags, like Cosmopolitan, have done their own articles on the love between a woman and her shoes. The general consensus? I’m paraphrasing here, but:
* It’s science. The act of buying shoes, even more than other pieces of clothing, releases dopamine in your brain.
* The human race as a whole associates height with power.
* It makes you feel like a sexy beast.
So, the next time someone remarks disparagingly on your shoe lust, or you feel guilty about adding another pair of Italian leather slingbacks to your Italian leather collection, well, hey. You have science behind you!
[Photo Credit: Amanda Terrebonne]