- Hello, my beautiful doves. My name is Mina, and today we're gonna
be talking about shoes, but before we get into it, I
wanna do a quick announcement. If you haven't heard by now, I have released a podcast
called "High Brow" and I'm really excited about it and I would really, really appreciate if you would check it out, if you would take a listen,
if you would rate on Spotify, if you would review on Apple Podcasts, if you would follow it. It's available on virtually every platform that offers a podcast so
you can find it anywhere. I don't know, I've been
really nervous about it, because I've been working
on it for so long. It just took a while to get
like the cover up together and the intro and outro music and then to actually like figure out what I was gonna do, et cetera. It's been a long time
coming and I feel like when something takes a lot of
effort or the longer it takes for something to launch, the
more nervous you are about it, and so I'm really thankful
for the positive reception it's gotten so far, yeah okay, I just wanted to plug that. If you're curious about what it is, it's basically just like
longer form versions of what I do here. So every video I make going forward is going to have an accompanying podcast, and that episode will be
an expansion of my video. So it's just gonna be
like more information, probably an interview with
an industry professional or just like a person who's
interested in the subject that's not myself or another perspective. I've been having people call in to give their own perspectives, like my own followers calling in. It's like a more rounded,
more holistic discussion of the topic and it also is
getting published once a week. So if you want more content,
that's where you'll find me. All right, so let's get into shoes. I'm gonna take a gander, a gamble. What is that phrase? Take a gamble and say
that shoes are the most, one of the most practical
objects that we wear today. They prevent your feet from
stepping on harmful substances. They prevent your feet from
stepping on sharp objects and if you live in New York, they protect your feet from
getting run over by a rat or as I remember seeing
a tweet where they said "A rat running over your feet
is a New York shooting star" and speaking of New York, um, (Mina laughs) there was this one video
on TikTok that went viral maybe like a year ago or two years ago. I don't know, time is a social construct, but it was these two
girls splashing around, dancing around in a puddle in Manhattan, and I think they were tourists because I just don't
know any New York local who would do that, because the rest of us
who actually live here, we know that if you do that, you're probably gonna get
tetanus within 30 minutes, you're probably gonna contract
some radioactive disease, unknown to man. You are are patient zero
for the next covid outbreak. There are so many bad things
that could happen to you from just dipping any part of your body into a pool of subway juice. Not to yuck someone's yum, but I just wanna know if they're
okay (laughs) after that. So knowing that shoes serve
such a practical purpose, why is it that shoes that
are so impractical in design, why are they so popular
and so coveted in fashion? (piano music) So my first encounter with an
impractical fashionable shoe, and I'm sure most of your first encounters is the same as mine was through
the story of Cinderella, specifically Disney's Cinderella. In the movie, Cinderella gets
a beautiful transformation for the ball where she gets a
white not blue dress, (laughs) and notably a fabulous but
no doubt blister causing pair of glass slippers and this look is completely different from her pret transformation look where she was just wearing some homely, utilitarian maids outfit
and a humble but comfortable probably pair of ballet flats. It's actually the dysfunction
of the glass slippers which fall off as she runs for the ball that's pivotal to the
plot of the fairytale. Equally as impressive
as the shoes material which is made of literal glass and I don't think is actually possible, is the shoes small size. Cinderella's shoe size according to Disney is a woman's four and a half. So she has very tiny feet and thank God she was the only woman with
that particular shoe size in her entire kingdom, or else she would not have
had that happy ending, but the small shoes also
implicitly work to symbolize that she is meant for an
aristocratic lifestyle. Cinderella was not born a servant. She was the daughter of a wealthy man and only found herself
in the life of servitude after a cruel twist of fate. Despite her years of hard labor working under a lady Tremaine, she maintained her sunny disposition and her dainty physique, which set her apart from her
Nouveau riche ugly stepsisters with their ginormous feet and
as writer Robert Boucher says, "though the author Charles
Perrault does not say so, those feet are clean and nice to look at through the clear glass. Cinderella does not have bunions, crooked toes or callouses." The glass slippers, thus
literally bring the prince and her together, but they
also work to symbolize Cinderella's aristocratic birthright. (piano music) So let's pour one out
for the brave soldiers who wear suede shoes in the subway. (Mina laughs) I hope I'm not speaking
as like the only person, but it does make me a little
uncomfortable when I see a shoe that looks very difficult to
clean or a very expensive shoe out and about in the city, because I understand the
risk it takes to do that, but if you are comfortable
with doing that, it is kind of a flex because you're like, yeah, I don't care about
ruining my $5,000 pair of shoes, because I can just afford another pair. So in saying that, your shoe
choice ultimately signifies your wealth, your status, and here's another one that
you might not think about, the love your community has for you. Ooh, what do I mean by that? So let's take a look at moccasins. Moccasins are a common shoe, throughout North American
indigenous cultures and a lot of them have this
very intricate bead work. The time, effort, and novel tools that went into these beaded designs, display skill, material,
wealth, and community values. These items were also
traditionally crafted by women. Different beads have been
used throughout history and they also differ
from region to region. For plains nations, glass beads
originally called pony beads, were introduced in 1675 by the French, but by 1840 seed beads
became more popular. These beads were smaller
and less expensive, therefore more accessible to work with enabling women to cover entire
surfaces of clothing bags and cradles with intricate beaded designs. The more covered in beads a garment was, the more impractical it
was for everyday wear. An example of when artistry
trump's functionality. Children's objects are
especially significant and that's because as I
said, crafting beaded objects was intensive. It would take weeks or months to create and healthy children
outgrow clothes and shoes fairly quickly. So the fact that women relatives would still laboriously
work on these objects showcases the family's love
and care for the child. Many of these objects were so
cherished by family members, that they would pass down
from generation to generation, which is why seeing
children's objects in museums like this pair of child's moccasins, sadly reminds us of the
long and continuing history of Western museums
stealing native objects. On the other side of the world,
European royals and nobility were wearing highly embellished
18th century court shoes. These shoes could be made of
silk embroidered with gold or buckles and fine metal. If the design wasn't enough to signify, "Hey, this guy's got a ton of money." Sumptuary laws went so far
as to legally gate keep commoners from ever accessing these shoes. For example, in 1673
at King Louis the 14th introduced shoes with
red heels and red souls. Dare I say, the original
Louboutins, to the French court. He restricted the wearing of such shoes to a circle of nobles. From yet another part
of the world In India, Paduka sandals can be very embellished. Let's take a look at these
Gujarati style paduka shoes that have been fashioned from sheet and cast in silver and gold. They're modeled after the
paduka is worn by Sadhus and other types of Mediceans
and holy men in India, but probably would've
been worn by royalty. For an example that a lot of us or a lot of us with a shopping
addiction (chuckles) can relate to, have you ever just bought a pair of shoes that were so impractical but
they were just so beautiful that you had to buy the anyway? That's how I feel about
my Simone Rocha shoes and I saw these like on Vogue Runway back when the collection had
dropped, the photos had dropped and I fell in love with them
and I was like, I need a pair and they're beautiful. They're like made of this satin at the top that is reminiscent of a ballet slipper, but then super, super, super chunky heel and these little like pearl
crystal embellishments on the side. They're gorgeous. I can barely walk in them
and this is going to be really sad
(sad music) and I really want a moment
of silence for this because, I ate shit one day, wearing them and the little beads fell off here and now they're like, photo shoot shoes. I'm like, I'm never gonna
take them out again. On the screen we see Carrie
Bradshaw from Sex in the City who has a similar obsession
to me for collecting fashionable shoes and for her fashion definitely overrides comfort. - These are authentic patent
leather, and if they don't fit, so help me, I'm gonna wear them anyway. - Like, excuse me, Manola
Blahniks in New York City, a notorious walking city? And Carrie has said
multiple times in the show that she loves walking? And then Louboutins on
Paris, cobbled streets? These are all impractical choices, but what a boring viewing
experience it would be if Carrie just wore Keds or Converse with all of her Versace and Prada dresses. The way audiences have eaten
up her shoes and her outfits, long after the show has ended
as evidenced by like listicles and the popularity of the
Every Outfit Instagram page that chronicles every
outfit in Sex in the City goes to show how much we as a
culture can appreciate a shoe regardless of its functionality. (classical music) The act of washing your feet or even washing someone else's feet is a deeply meaningful
right in many cultures. Cleanliness of the foot
symbolizes total purity because the feet are the
first to go in contact with the ground. In the Odyssey of Eurycleia,
Odysseus' devoted nurse washes his scarred feet
when he returns home. Foot washing was a common
practice in ancient Greece, and it was usually
designated to be the domain of enslaved women because it
was considered lowly work. However, if someone not enslaved washed the feet of someone else, it could be considered a great
expression of friendship. Washing the feet of elderly family members was also a sign of respect. The playwright Aristophanes
mentions in his play, The Wasps, the pride felt by a rich
man when his daughter washed and anointed his feet upon his return from a day of hard work. In ancient Rome, foot washing was still a really important part of
a person's daily routine. At dusk, after everyone washed their feet, they would splash the dirty
water into the street. The Roman poet Juvenal spoke about how anyone walking along
the street at night would often be drenched
by this dirty water. If someone did not wash
his feet for a day, who would be considered uncivilized and probably criticized by his community. Foot washing can also
be a religious practice. In Christianity, the
practice is called Maundy, which comes from the
biblical story of Jesus washing his disciples feet the
night before his crucifixion. In the Book of John, the gospel records that Jesus didn't give an
explanation for why he did it, but merely that it was just
an expression of his love and it was significant because
at the time, culturally, you didn't wash someone's feet unless you were a lower rank than them or unless you were greeting
someone into your home, but Jesus had already greeted
the disciples in his home long ago because this was
happening post dinner. So needless to say, it was unconventional
and worth documenting. Foot washing isn't just a
Christian practice though. Wudu is an Islamic ritual, purification intended to take place before each of the five daily prayers. The ritual consists of washing the faces, hands, arms, and feet and in the Book of Exodus, God instructs Moses to
create a bronze lever, which was meant to sit outside
the tabernacle of meeting so that the priest, Aaron, his sons, and their successors could wash
their hands and their feet, before making sacrifices. Even among the non-religious,
the high status of clean feet demanded the creation of
shoes to keep the feet as far away from the ground as possible. For example, first worn
in the Middle Ages, patten over shoes were
intended to protect shoes from mud and dirt. A typical men's patten might
have a thick wooden soul and attach to the foot with leather straps that resemble a modern sandal. You can see how in this 1450
painting of St. Sebastian, he's wearing patents underneath poulaines. Poulaines are those
stereotypical medieval shoes that have a long pointy toe. Patten could also have iron
rings attached to the bottom to elevate the shoe from the ground. While some shoes elevated,
other shoes stretched wide. In the African world, the
Asantes' royal ahenema sandals are not only embellished with gold, they are wide enough to
ensure that the wear's feet will never risk touching the ground. Ahenema originated back
to the 18th century and were traditionally
only worn by chiefs, kings and their families. As the industrial revolution introduced new modes of production,
fancy and fragile shoes became a more accessible
status symbol for the upper and growing middle classes in Europe. Spats or spatterdashes
were a Victorian trend designed to protect the footwear. Adapted from earlier military designs, fashionable versions of the
spat took off in the 1870s and remained in popular
fashion through the 1920s. Around the 1920s, spats became stereotyped as being American gangster footwear, which might have also
contributed to their decline among the general public. There's a reason why the gangster villain in the 1959 comedies "Some like it Hot," is named Spats Colombo. Nowadays, sneakerheads take
pride in keeping their shoes clean and uncreased, and they look down on white
girls who wear dirty AF1s as kind of like denigrating their culture. Angel Diaz wrote in his essay, "The Gentrification of Sneakers
is Killing the Culture": The ritual of cleaning your sneakers is a major part of being a sneakerhead, especially if you had younger siblings. It's something you can bond over like that scene in Paid in Full when Mitch shows his little brother Sonny, the proper way to keep
his sneakers clean." Internet personality and
sneaker master Dallas Penn also told Angel "The idea
that a white/unworn/slash clean sneaker is better than
one that has been worn/used/ played in is all Black culture
and the art of presentation." With crisp white AF1s
being a status symbol, they're opposite black AF1s,
shoes that can high dirt and don't need to be
as meticulously cleaned have become memes. Liz Sommer writes
"Wearers of the black AF1s are often considered to
be shady, untrustworthy, and suspicious. While in some occupations
AF1s are worn as work shoes, their stereotype as a shoe
of a grifter or gangster usually excludes when they
are part of a uniform. It's said that the older and more worn out someone's shoes are, the
less upright there will be." (piano music) So here's a fun fact. The heel or platform of
a shoe originated in part for utilitarian purposes,
serving as work wear to lift people out of dirty environments. For example, in ancient Egypt, people of the lower
classes walked barefoot. However, butchers wore platform shoes so that they wouldn't
have to step on blood and also so that they could
step over slaughtered animals. Similarly, in 15th century Persia, healed shoes helped writers
keep their feet in stirrups. These shoes are predecessors
to the cowboy boot, which is one of the few enduring
men's heeled shoe styles. Another functional wear example: Japanese geta shoes can
also serve as work wear. Geta come in many variations. For example, ashida style geta
can be used by sushi chefs to elevate their feet above
any discarded fish parts on the floor. They are also high stilted
geta worn for shredding tea, weighted geta for cultivating seaweed and spike soled geta for fishing flatfish and yet another example,
Turkish bath clogs, Nalin and Takunya began as a
means of elevating the wearer over wet or heated floors in bath houses. According to art historian
Michael Blackman's website, "These clogs were designed
for a wealthy woman so that when worn, she would be elevated above a wet and dirty floor. Walking, however, required the
assistance of an at attendant and the higher the clog
than the more at attendants who would be needed. So particularly high clogs
became status symbols." So eventually the most
prized trait of the heel was its height over its functionality and high heels also became
more and more gendered. Throughout history, high
heels have literally been a way for aristocratic
people to look down on the little people. While we talked about ashida
geta being functional, other styles of geta, like the mitsubageta
exploit the shoes height for status signaling. During the Feudal period oiran
or high ranking courtesans and sex workers would
wear these mitsubageta. As you can see, these
geta are black lacquered and have three stilts. Oiran were a very high rank and tayuu were the
highest ranking of them. However, unlike lower ranking oiran, tayuu did not engage
in full service sex work and instead were known for their training in Japanese tea ceremonies,
Kodo, Ikebana, calligraphy and other art forms. Only the wealthiest and highest
ranking territorial lords could ever hope to patron them. Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior
curator at the Bata Shoe Museum said "Because of the height
of their mitsubageta, oiran walked very slowly in an exaggerated figure-eight pattern that
highlighted the splendor of their toilette. Oiran set fashions in Edo and women who attempted to copy
their ostentatious clothing were often censored with sanctuary laws, such as the edict that attempted
to ban lacquered geta." Some geisha and maiko, aka
performers who entertained guests by conversation, singing,
musicianship and dancing, would wear these geta as well, but they would wear them with tabi socks, whereas oiran traditionally
never wore socks even during the winter. In 16th century Italy, Venetian
chopines were fashionable, high platform shoes. On a functional level,
the shoe was designed to protect the foot
from irregularly paved, wet and or muddy streets, but similar to the mitsubageta, chopines were hard to walk in. Their height introduced an
awkwardness and instability to a woman's walk. Like wearers of those high
bath clogs we talked about, Venetian women who wore chopines usually had to be
accompanied by attendants. It was once thought that
very high chopines, 20 inches as seen as an example from
the Museo Correr in Venice were the accoutrements of the courtesan and were intended to establish her highly visible public profile. However, a 16th century
accounts document that the height of the chopines
was more about signaling the splendor and class of the
Venetian woman wearing them without any indication of her profession. Our last example here are Qing dynasty Manchu horse-hoof platform shoes. They look very similar to
chopines and are very different to their contemporary
Chinese counterpoint, the tiny lotus shoes of the Han culture. According to historical texts, Manchu women never bound their feet and their shoes were
traditionally made out of wood. Tradition also upholds
that these thick soles were created because a
goddess who first wore them needed to protect her feet
from insects and muck. See a pattern here? When the Manchu dress and
hairstyle was reshaped in the mid 19th century, horse-hoof shoes became important accessories
in Manchu fashion. In 1848, Chinese historian Fu Ge described the Manchu style
as consisting of a qipao, high heeled shoes and hairstyles
such as the liangbatou. This ensemble made Manchu
woman a appear taller and allowed them to have
this particular like sway and confidence and
freedom when they walked. Which contrasted according to Fu Ge, to the Han woman's ideal
frailty and delicate stature and because of the wood
material of these shoes, they made a lot of noise
when the wear was walking and in American culture,
clopping around in loud shoes is usually viewed negatively and a sign of like being disruptive, but in Qing dynasty China,
Manchu woman embraced this attention. (heels clanging) Some courtesans and wealthy
women even attached bells to their shoes to attract
even more attention. (piano music) The highest display of privilege is never having to lift a
finger, let alone a toe. (Mina laughs) I talked about how the height of a shoe could be a crutch to physical mobility, but height isn't the only
way to make you hobble. Going back to medieval poulaines, these fashionable shoes
came with functional issues and by the look of them,
it's not surprising. Not only were they
probably a tripping hazard, a study published in the
International Journal of Paleopathology reported
that the rise of elongated shoes in late medieval Cambridge England led to a sharp increase in
hallux valgus of the big toe or bunions. For the study authors Jenna
Dittmar, Pierce Mitchell and their colleagues
analyzed 177 skeletons on earth at burial sites
in or around Cambridge. They found that just 6% of individuals buried between 11th and 13th centuries bore evidence of bunions on their feet. Meanwhile, 27% of individuals
buried in the 14th and 15th centuries suffered from bunions. Taking things further, and we've kind of like already
alluded to this discussion, but Chinese foot-binding. It was a historical cultural practice where women would bind their feet so that they would stay small and fit into these dainty lotus shoes. According to Smithsonian magazine, foot binding was inspired by
a 10th century court dancer named Yao Niang, who bound her feet into the shape of a new moon. She entranced the emperor
Li yu by dancing on her toes inside a six foot golden
lotus festooned with ribbons and precious stones. In addition to altering
the shape of the foot, the practice also produced
a particular sort of gait that relied on the thigh and
buttock muscles for support. From the, start foot binding was imbued with erotic overtones. Chinese historian Dorothy Ko notes, "It is paradoxical that foot
binding supposedly a signal of the women's family status
as conspicuous leisure was in and itself a results and expression of a strenuous form of female labor. Gradually other court
ladies with money and time took up foot binding,
making it a staple among Han Chinese elite circles. By the 16th century, the lotus
shoe exploded in popularity in part because of how
good the economy was doing. During these prosperous times, women felt more pressured
to display their father's, or their husband's wealth
in any way possible and by the 19th century there
was a trickle down effect, where even lower class women
started binding their feet. There are surviving lotus work boots that are an example of this. Work boots aside, the
stereotypical lotus shoe is highly decorated. Some women even hired famous carpenters to carve their heels,
often of fragrant wood. Floral cutouts were made on
the surface of hollowed heels and perfumed powder inside
the heels would leave traces of blossoms on the floor as
the wear shifted her steps. The shoe uppers were
fashioned from red, white, or green silk with increasingly
elaborate embroidered motifs of auspicious symbols. Foot binding is no longer
a widespread practice, first losing its exclusivity, and thus exclusivity and thus, resandit during the Qing dynasty
and then eventually the communist government banned
the practice in the 1950s. So those are just some examples of shoes that are not high heels, that
are difficult to walk in, but I feel like I can't
just not talk about the modern high heel,
which is or which can be a hobbly wobbly shoe for some people. In 1988, the movie Working
Girl displayed the politics around the high heel. In the opening scenes, the
protagonist Tess McGill played by Melanie Griffith, whereas dingy White high top
Reebok as commuting shoes, but once she gets to the office, she chucks them under her desk and changes into a pair of
black high heeled pumps. Shannon Adducci writes, "Working Girl paints a real portrait of the New York female
commuter of the era. Blue collar secretaries or assistants, shuffling in from the
outer burs, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Long Island
with comfortable footwear that read as both scarlet letter and a badge of honor for a working woman. High heels were worn as a
display of social status in an urban working environment. Middle and working class
woman were relegated to walkable footwear because
they had to commute into work. Whereas women who wore high
heels gave the impression that they rode taxis or had
drivers take them into work and the ability to walk in
heels as a class signifier can be seen in romcoms through
the eighties, nineties, and two thousands where
a newly made over woman struggles to walk in her new heels. (trash can thuds)
(actor screams) On the high fashion front, the
famous photo of supermodel, Naomi Campbell falling on a Paris runway while wearing a pair
of Vivienne Westwood's 1993 super elevated Gillie platforms is burned into every fashion
girl's consciousness. The absence of utility completely
removes this pair of shoes from mere apparel and places them into the world of objet d'art. The infamous fall even
prompted a disastrous Vivian Westwood heels challenge
on America's next top model that resulted in a sprained foot and a model needing crutches. I can't say I'm surprised considering America's Next Top model is
basically like Tyra Banks' sadistic pleasure show. (cymbal clangs) (model screams) (crowd gasps) Even more recently,
Valentino was under fire for multiple shoe mishaps
on their spring 2023 runways last October. They essentially decided
to cast a lot of models who didn't have any runway
experience for the show and while I'm not against this concept, like I think it can be a
really powerful statement and really, what's the word? Challenging the exclusivity
of the fashion industry to bring in people who
don't work as models, but I think they probably could have done a couple more rehearsals. The spectacle was so
bizarre that Valentino had to issue this statement in response. "After the rehearsal talents were asked if they were comfortable in their shoes and were offered alternative shoe options. Additionally, transparent safety
straps were added to shoes for more stability. While some talents opted to walk in shoes that were difficult, we are pleased that they felt empowered to remove their shoes and finish the show. Valentino respects our talents
and puts their safety first. This was absolutely not a PR strategy." While the most recent
fall 2023 runway show didn't have as many mishaps,
a professional model, Kristen McMenamy did take a
tumble making people wonder whether Valentino put the
model in the wrong shoe size. From Vivienne Westwood to
Valentino to many, many others, is this really just a sizing
issue or is it a trend for designers to prioritize
producing dazzling eye candy and headline grabbing content
at the expense of comfort and wearability? Not all novel footwear relies
on a towering heel though. Last October, Loewe's runway show introduced a multitude of inventive kicks. Models took to the runway in shoes that were completely transparent, embellished with oversized flora, reminiscent of Minnie Mouse or
covered in deflated balloons. The collections theme was
inflation and deflation and even though these shoes
didn't look too uncomfortable to wear, we can definitely
see that art was chosen over wearability, just because
the designs are so out there. MSCHF, an artist collective known for its subversive creations, released a pair of viral
cartoonish boots last February. They cost $350, weighed
three and a half pounds and sold out within minutes. On their website, the
product description read, "Cartoonishness is an
abstraction that frees us from the constraints of reality. If you kick someone in these
boots, they go booing." While for most ready to wear, it can be kind of difficult to determine whether something is just
made to be a viral moment versus something that
actually has a deeper meaning. MSCHFs drops tend to
be obviously satirical, like that's their whole shtick. Before the big red boots, the collective was best known
for its shoe collaboration with Lil Nas X, the Nike Satan shoes that were allegedly made
with real human blood. Last summer, they released Jimmy Fallon's Gob Stomper sneakers, which
were designed to be destroyed and other previous hits
include Jesus' shoes, which were sneakers with holy
water injected into the soles, so you could literally walk on water and Birkenstocks, which were
sandals made of cut up birkins. These shoes poke fun at
the idea of consumerism and hype culture and are only a small part of their production output, which include anything from
heartbreak defibrillators for Valentine's Day to a Slack channel where they recreated episodes
from mockumentary series The Office. MSCHF CEO Gabriel Whaley explains "our perspective is everything is funny in a nihilistic sort of way. We're not here to make
the world a better place. We're making light of how
much everything sucks." (piano music) The bottom line is some shoes are never supposed to be sensible choices, but they all make a statement and to me, my Simone Rocha
shoes make a statement that I am a girl's girl
who has an eye for beauty and am living in the
2020s where ballet corps is taking storm. So that will be the little
artifact description if these ever end up in
someone's private gallery or a museum. (laughs) So this is the end of the video. Thank you all so much for watching and let me know in the comments
what you think about shoes and also follow my podcast, High Brow, and I hope you have a
lovely rest of your day. Bye.
