A look at the shoes (and feet)

Embroidered women´s silk boots for bounded feet, Qing, 1700-1800-century, 14 x 13 cm (China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou. EMMA Museum, Espoo) and Aki Choklat for Lahtiset, size 40.

Lately I have been thinking a lot of women´s shoes and feet.

It started with Mirja Tervos´s book Huimaavat korot, a study about designer shoes, seen from the floor perspective of a seller in an expensive shoe salon in New York. There the shoes mean a lot to the ego and even more to the wallet. And a lot of suffering, too, because the high heels are extremely cruel to the anatomy of feet. Why are modern women willing to destroy their health for vanity?

From that point of view it was interesting to see a parallel study: a documentary Footbinding – The Search for the Three Inch Golden Lotus by Yue-Qing Yang. The over thousand year old tradition of footbinding was banned in China in 1911 but practiced to the 1930s. Why? There are many reasons but one of them is that was regarded to be a valuable asset to get the girl married – even now Chinese men interviewed in this film think that tiny feet make a girl more desirable. The film is a part of the new exhibition 100% Silk – Story of Chinese Silk that opened on Tuesday in EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art.

Then a completely different look at the shoe and binding I saw on Wednesday in Helsinki when the Finnish felt boot factory Huopaliike Lahtinen showed some examples of Aki Choklat´s felt shoe design. These boots with orange straps are kind to feet and look smart as well. They are even comforting to look at.