BEAUTIFUL SHOES, UGLY FEET IT

    IT WAS a Monday morning during the worst recession in US history
since the Great Depression, but no one would know it the day I visited
1022 Shoe, the high-end, fantasyland designer shoe boutique at
Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. To get there, I hurried past the
makeup counters on the first floor and dashed into the express elevator-
the one that stops only on the eighth floor-just as the doors
were sliding shut. A moment later I stepped out, and behold! I was
greeted by a kaleidoscopic array of Christian Louboutin patent
leather peep-toe pumps. One pair was robin's egg blue; the next was
maraschino cherry red. Others beckoned in bubblegum pink, sunflower
yellow, and seafoam green. Oh, and look over on the other
side of the display-there was also an animal print option in shades
ofbrown, beige, and black.
    Jimmy Choo, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta,
Dior, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana-the names don't really matter.
All the shoes in 1022 Shoe-the strappy sandals, the slingbacks, the
closed-back pumps-looked more or less the same. The style formula
of the season: high, thin stiletto heel; covered platform of an inch;
pointy, open toe; colors that were bright, patent leather, metallic,
and/or psychedelic. Sometimes a rosette or bow added an extra decorative
touch. These shoes were gorgeous, extravagant, fantastical.
They were works of art; they transformed the wearer into a princess,
a sexy goddess.
    And the prices-$695, $1,025, $1,575. Even if a woman could
afford the price tags without blinking, the shoes were audaciously
impractical. Who could stand in them for more than a few minutes,
let alone walk in them? The heels were five inches high and so, so
slender. The part of the heel that touches the ground was as wide in
circumference as a single Cheerio. The words "hobble"and "cripple"
popped into my mind. Even the boots were nonfunctional: most had open toes.
    They were also oozing with sex appeal. The heels were
so high and the shoes themselves so open and revealing,
I imagined that only strippers and other sex workers
could wear them without irony. These shoes looked like
they belonged on the set of a pornographic video.
    It's okay to wear stilettos for a few hours once or twice a week at a
party, date, or special event. I am not telling you to haul a bag filled
with all your heels to the Salvation Army. Even if I did, you wouldn't
listen. So keep your heels. But know this: it is foolish to wear them
when you will be walking or standing for long periods of time, and
it is downright dim-witted to wear them all day, every day, for years
on end. If you choose to ignore these warnings, the day will comemaybe
next year, perhaps in five or ten-when you will wake up in
pain. You will look back at your years of bad decisions and wonder:
nMy god, what have I done?"
    In Sex and the Ci!Jl, Carrie and her friends pound the Manhattan
pavement in stilettos very similar to the offerings at Saks-shoes with
itty- bitty toe boxes, zero arch support, inhumanly narrow foot beds,
and a slope that forces feet forward so that you have no choice but to
walk on the balls of your feet. For me, the mystery is not if they live
happily ever after but whether or not they develop bunions (when the
big toe shifts angle, pointing toward the little toes instead of straight
forward) and hammertoes (when toes curl down), among other nasty
afflictions.
    My belief is that if a woman knows full well that wearing her favorite
shoes may lead to hammertoes and bunions, and she makes this choice
with informed consent, that is her decision. However, most women are
not informed and therefore put their feet at risk for the sake of fashion
and beauty without even realizing what they are doing.
    In all seriousness, I suggest that pointy- toed, high-heeled shoes
come with a warning printed on the shoe box, just as with cigarettes:
"These shoes are a health hazard. Wearing them for prolonged periods
on a regular basis may lead to deformity, pain, and ugly feet. Your
Achilles tendons may shorten, making it impossible to wear flats even
if you want to. Wear with caution."
    Many people mistakenly believe that the way
celebrities live is attainable for the rest of us. But
stars are not like us, even if paparazzi capture them
at the market buying the same cereal we eat. Too
many otherwise sensible women foolishly deduce
that since Susan Sarandon gave birth at forty-six
and Geena Davis at forty- eight, they too will be
able to conceive beyond their peak reproductive
years. Just because we see celebrities in stilettos on
red carpets at award shows and premieres does not mean that the rest
of us can or should wear the same shoes on a regular basis.
    Today there is an urgent need to educate women to make smart
footwear choices because of two current trends.
    First, today many women consider extremely high heels to be an
indispensable part of their wardrobe, and they don't just save these
shoes for special occasions; they wear them all day, every day. High
heels worn to work and around town are nothing new, of course, but
now dizzying heights are taken for granted as (!normal." In previous
years, a three-and-a-half-inch heel was ooh la la. Now that height is
categorized as ''medium height" and women feel pressured to go as
high as five inches.
    When I visited the Jimmy Chao boutique on Madison Avenue in
Manhattan, I picked up a pair of slingbacks with obscenely high heels
(and no platform) and turned to the saleswoman. "Over five inches,"
she reported. "Can you walk in these?" I asked her. "I can't," she said.
Another pair on display had a three-anda-half-inch heel. !That's the mediumheightheel," the saleswoman told me, without a trace of irony. ''That one people can walk in. "
    Many women turn to flip - flops because their fee·
hurt after hours in heels. They mistakenly believe tha
flip-flops are like medicine to soothe their aching feet
They could not be more wrong. The lack of support ir
this type of sandal causes the foot to move and roll
leading to multiple injuries and problems, such as the painful heel
condition called plantar fasciitis. Since flip - flops remain fashionable
and trendy-with millions choosing to wear them when walking and
even bicycling-it is critical that women be educated about the damage
they are doing to their feet. Flip- flops belong at the beach or
pool, and for a half-hour after a woman paints her toenails and isn't
going anywhere anyway-and that's it.
    A few hours later, after the shower is over and Carrie is preparing
to leave, she returns to the foyer-only to discover that her beloved,
bejeweled shoes are missing! Someone has stolen her Manolos! Kyra
does not show any empathy. She loans Carrie black, androgynous,
wom-in canvas sneakers to wear home. In the following days, Carrie
continues to be disturbed about her loss and pesters Kyra to see if the
shoes turn up. They don't. Carrie has hundreds of other pairs of
shoes, but she feels incomplete without this particular pair. Kyra offers
to replace them for her, but is aghast and judgmental when she discovers
that Carrie's shoes cost $485. To Kyra, that is an irresponsible
amount of money to spend on shoes for oneself. Kyra determines,
therefore, that she is not responsible for replacing such an extravagance.
    Carrie wonders if Kyra is correct. Perhaps she has made an existential
error in choosing the single, childless lifestyle (in which she
doesn't have to spend money on anyone but herself) instead of Kyra' s
traditional path of husband and babies. Ultimately, Carrie rejects this
interpretation. Since she has always been a loyal friend who buys gifts
for others when they marry and give birth, she decides that she, too, is
deserving of gifts. Carrie registers for her missing shoes at the Manolo
Blahnik boutique, in effect announcing that she is marrying herself,
and leaves a message on Kyra's machine to let her know.