Spring 2009: The Most Dangerous Shoes

The runways are a scary place especially when it comes to the dangerously high heels, which seem to be more torturous than fashionably beautiful. The shoes can be either way too high or way too uncomfortable and combined with the runway experiments like a sandy runway or the plain extremely slippery ones, we get a horrifying combination of the hazardous runway shows.

This year, many models tripped during the shows of Rodarte, Pucci and who can forget Prada. And many more models stumbled at Dolce & Gabbana and BCBG and many others were petrified during Basso & Brooke, Marni, Gucci, Aminaka Wilmont and Christian Dior but miraculously survived. In any case, I think designers should start paying attention to this much more. It is one thing to bring fantasy and temptatious footwear to the runway, it is another to have models visibly scared, trembling or falling on the runway, there by distracting the audience from the clothes since the audience is merely too worried about the poor girls on the runway.

Below are some of the most horrifying, including the toe-less/sole-less shoes by Aminaka Wilmont, as well as Prada, Rodarte, Marni and Basso & Brooke in that order from left to right!

Victoria Beckham Shocks NY with Heel-Less Boots!

At the Beckhams’ perfume launch this weekend in New York, Victoria shocked all by wearing these PVC thigh-high heel-less boots by Antonio Berardi. A pair of these runs at about $5,600 and are made to order. The English-Italian designer started the heel-less shoe trend in the summer with the heel-less sandals which were actually bought by Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow and of course Posh Spice. These new made to order boots have already sold around 60 pairs worldwide.

Is this design impossible to wear? After all, heels alone make you feel enormous pain after long hours, then what will no heels do for your high-”heeled” shoes? Well, according to Berardi these shoes do not cause any pain.

“They are perfectly balanced. When the girls come for fittings, they look a bit daunted, but by the end they say it’s just like wearing a regular shoe. They are graceful and there is a ballerina nature about them. Having a heel is really just psychological.” The trick to the heel-less shoes is that they have a bigger platform sole which stretched back further than the ordinary heel shoes and this is what gives the needed support not to fall. However, when you walk you would need to step on your toes first. Medical experts of course disagree warning that if regularly worn, the shoes could cause permanent physical damage. I can see their appeal as they remind of the pointe ballerina shoes. But any ballerina would tell you that she would never wear her shoes unless she had to, no matter how appealing they are.

Would you wear the heel-less shoes? Is this the next dangerous footwear trend that everyone will start obssesing about?