Restraining shoes-

Shoe from Marie-Antoinette, 1792:

These are shoes from the exhibition « Marche et démarche – Une histoire de la chaussure » at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The shoe you can see on the picture on the right belonged to the queen Marie Antoinette in 11792. I chose to talk about this shoe because it mesures only 5 cm large and 21 cm long, which is equivalent to the feet of a child. This tiny heel, shows a fashion fo the 18th century , the culture and beauty of having small feet. Women from the high society at that tine used to chose shoed that would be too small for them, and would learn to walk on their toes that would be cowered. I chose to write about this object as this echoes to the constant woman changing trend, where the body would be restrained, and go against the normality, for fashion designs.

https://www.beauxarts.com/expos/5-chaussures-qui-ont-bouscule-lhistoire-de-la-marche/

Chinese Culture of Foot Binding:

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-disturbing-reason-for-the-ancient-chinese-practice-of-foot-binding-2015-9?IR=T

An ideal of beauty from the old Chinese, at these times, it would be obligatory for women to bind their feet to find an honorable man, get married, and improve their living status. Because of their small feet, these women had to take a specific posture when walking. A posture which would contract the muscles of the hips, vagina, and thighs. With the weight of their bodies constantly being on their heels, these women had more fat in their thighs than in the rest of their body, making them more attractable to Chinese men. Chinese men would also have sexual attraction for these women with tight muscles. I find interesting to see that in most of these cases, accessories are used to stifle and shape a woman's body. Even if theses accessories cause discomfort and pain, they were the norms and women had to go through it in order to progress in their lives.

This also makes me think of some kind of insecurity. Indeed, these Chinese women who have binding feet end up with anormal feet, changing their posture, and the way they walk. This provokes a certain kind of insecurity, where women are unstable in their own body, and need to learn how to use it and make the most out of it. If they were to be in a dangerous situation, they are at higher risk than people with normal feet as they may have some difficulty to run for example if they need to escape.

Heel-less boots :

These are shoes I chose from Antonio Berardi as it represents the modern way of constricting feet even today and changing the way of walking because of the shoes.

These are "heel-less" heel boots where the wearer has to adapt its walking and balance in order to walk with them. These boots are made in PVC, which is a "soft material" making it comfortable, but it tends to stick to the skin thus with these high boots, creating a claustrophobic sensation on the leg. As if ht leg was blocked in some kind of sticky material. The boots go very high on the legs, which might give an uncomfortable feeling. The boots are enclosing the legs, and I think this also requires some adaptation from the wearer to this enclosing sensation. These shoes perpetuate the movement of changing women's nature and movement, making them change for fashion trends. It makes me think of the hysterical emotion as one side of hysterical to me is to be blocked and forced to be something else from what we really are by nature.

Research

Confirm copying