Sex and high-heel shoes

Wednesday night, I watched a historical show on...no, not life during martial law or the Japanese occupation of the Philippines or the evolution of the impeachment process. I found myself glued to the Lifestyle Channel watching every minute of "Love, Lust & Heels." I'm not a fashionista but I enjoyed the show because I am a trivia junkie and there was a lot of that in the hour-long presentation.

Did you know, for instance, that the first person to popularize high heels wasn't a lady but a guy? In 1661, French King Louis XIV wore heels because he was only 4'11" and he wanted to look like a six-footer. All the men at court wore heels which became a status symbol for the aristocracy. That's where the term "well-heeled," which means prosperous or wealthy, comes from.

In 1774, Marie Antoinette was married off to Louis XVI at age 14. She was referred to as the teen queen, the Miley Cyrus of her time. Since she was just a trophy wife, she spent most of her time buying all sorts of luxurious things like clothes, jewelry and high-heeled shoes. At one point, she owned 500 pairs just like someone we know. Her high heels became a symbol of the excesses of royalty so when French Revolution came, she was finally sentenced to the guillotine. She took her final walk in one of her expensive footwear. Her famous last words were "I'm sorry I stepped on you," after she stepped on the foot of one of the guards. With her execution, high heels also got the axe.

So how did high heels become associated with sexiness? It all started at the Moulin Rouge in France where Can Can dancers showed off their legs and the heels they were wearing. Some of the girls had sidelines as prostitutes and heels made them look seductive and desirable.

One fashion observer described the effect of wearing high heels, "The shoulders go back, the girls (boobs) go out and the butt goes out too." Another one says heels bring movement that is very seductive. At this point, "LLH" concentrates on the sexuality associated with heels.

There are shots of Betty Grable, the favorite pin-up girl of US soldiers during World War II, the iconic shot of Marilyn Monroe clutching her dress as the wind exposes her legs in "Seven Year Itch," Hugh Heffner's Playboy Bunnies and their tight-fitting costumes. What's common to all these shows were the heels they were wearing which accentuated their sexual appeal.

"LLH" also pays tribute to the famous shoe designers starting off with Christian Louboutin who painted the heels red just like Louis XIV's shoes hundreds of years ago. He even designed a shoe called the Marie Antoinette which sold for $6,000. Then there was Salvatore Ferragamo who invented stiletto heels and won the support of Hollywood stars. Manolo Blahnik got noticed when his designs were associated with "Sex and the City." Tom Ford came up with the dangerous looking five-inch stiletto heels in the 1990s.These fashionable shoes cost a fortune, hundreds and thousands of dollars, but women, especially celebrities bought them because the shoes were status symbols and they had money to spend.

Then in 2007, the bubble burst and women started to scrimp on their spending. But one designer, Alexander McQueen, was unfazed by the sad state of affairs He told an interviewer, "I don't think it makes sense to pay safe in these times. The world needs fantasy not reality. We have too much reality today."

McQueen created the armadillo described by some observers as "like a mythical creature's hooves," "something an alien would wear but embellished with jewels," and "futuristic, incredibly insane creation." Fantasy won over reality.

Personally, I'm aghast that women would pay oodles of dollars or pesos for shoes but I'm not a woman so I haven't experienced how wearing a Manolo or a McQueen can make me extremely happy.