Princess Caroline of Monaco recently attended a fundraiser for Monaco’s new national museum.
And she wore toe-shoes. No, nothing Vibram-like. Worse.
Much worse.
Here she is with her brother Prince Albert II.
Those are a pair of Céline “pedicure shoes”. (No, I will not provide a link to them.)
Are they as bad as they look? Yes they are. Here’s a picture of her feet while sitting in a chair. (They are called “pedicure shoes” because of their permanent “pedicure”.)
Not only are they guaranteed to help inflict hallux valgus (where, instead of pointing straight ahead like your toes are supposed to do, your big toe gets squashed to the outside, also called a bunion), they seem to celebrate it.
Or is that just a trick of perspective?
No, no it’s not. Here’s a close-up from the first picture.
Heck, hallux valgus is actually built in to the shoe. I guess they know their customers, since such high-heeled pointy shoes are a major cause of it.
Here’s one of the stories about it, Kooky kicks: Monaco’s Princess Caroline steps out in ‘pedicure’ shoes. The last paragraph of the story gets it right:
But the real question is, why pay for a pair of leather feet when you have a perfectly good pair of your own?
You know, if they were going to make shoes with such obvious toes, trying to make the shoe look like feet, why not spread out the toes so that they were actually foot-shaped?
I know! I know!
Because then they wouldn’t fit the actual deformed feet of their usual customers! How can deformed feet ever be considered stylish?
But that’s not the worst. Even if they had a broad front to fit the toes in properly, there’s still this.
Those are monster heels. There is horrendous pressure being exerted on the ball of the foot, where the phalanges and metatarsals meet.
It’s no wonder women have so many foot problems.
[H/T: Willa Grant]
So funny!
Can shoes get any uglier? A true princess would have the nobility to walk barefoot with dignity and elegance.
> A true princess would have the nobility to walk barefoot with dignity and elegance.
Yeah, like Disney’s Rapunzel 🙂
Strange and baffling to design a shoe that exposes — and celebrates as you say — a deformity caused by high heels. The more I look around at what people are wearing on their feet, including men, the more I cringe.
I honestly thought this was photoshoped or some weird internet thing when I saw a photo of this a few days ago. Wow. Just wow. I really didn’t think the high heel could sink any lower than the heel-less high heel. I was wrong. I was sitting in a café late last night and I saw all these women trying to walk past in their heels and it just made me want to shout at them. Or poke one lightly in the shoulder.
There was a woman in the cafe with a little girl who had aparently insisted on going out barefoot. They carried her in to the café, set her down (because it’s clean in there with everyone walking in off the street), and let her move around. But when she wanted the toilet her mother opens the door for her, sees one or two tiny drops of water on the floor from the sink and, I’m not kidding, says “see! This is what happens when you don’t wear shoes!” and picks her right up and carries her over the droplets of water. I really am not kidding, three or four tiny drops of sink water from someone washing their hands were enough to stop her in her tracks and prompt a lecture. I have to wonder if the woman avoided getting her to wash her hands just so she wouldn’t touch the ground. Or if she stood her on the toilet. I really wish I had said something…..
It’s quite ironic that you people care so much about what others wear, all while asking that they don’t stigmatise your barefootedness.
Obviously, the rich and powerful are controlled by this nonsensical paradigm and they have done an excellent job of passing the burden on to us serfs.
Let the world play dress up. I’m fine with it, heck, wear them higher for all I care. They can cringe in sympathy at my bare feet all they want, that’s their job. There is zero chance that I will be returning the favor.
She is ready for Halloween.
Best comment!