Beth Levine & Louboutin | Feminism, Eroticism, Stilettos & Red Shoes

Feminism, Eroticism & Stilettos

Christian Louboutin explained recently that the reason women love his stilettos is because they are pregnant with orgasmic possibilities. A French academic explained to the master of shoemaking that what is sexual in a high heel is the arch of the foot. When a woman orgasms, her foot assumes the stiletto position.

That ultimate sex goddess Marilyn Monroe said “I don’t know who invented the high heel, but all women owe him a lot.” Historians write that Marilyn developed her famous wiggle because of the stiletto shoes that Salvatore Ferragamo made for her.

Ferragamo is credited with developing the sling-back and open-toed shoes, along with stilettos as we know them in the late 1940s. The Italian designer spent a lot of time in Hollywood, developing shoes for the movie industry that matched the spirit of his own Mediterranean climate.

Costume historian Kevin Jones of the Los Angeles-based Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising advises that fashionable footware became important as part of the Italian Renaissance, where high fashion shoes became a key item in the upper class woman's wardrobe.

Wealthy Italian women were involved in the actual design of their shoes, choosing the tilks, trimmings and embroideries and the height of their heels. Jones explains that during this time period, high-heeled shoes soared -- literally -- to heights as high as 23 inches and were called chopines. Covered in embroidery, solid gold laces and complex punched leather work, chopines were an ultimate luxury item.

Beth Levine, America's Star Shoe Designer

In a bit of contrary history to Jones' award of the stiletto tiara to Ferragamo, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)'s 2010 lecture Beth Levine Shoes by Helene Verin credited Levine -- wife of Herbert Levine -- as the designer who made stilettos sensational in America. 

Calling Beth Levine America's First Lady of Shoe Design, the NYTimes writes that not only did Beth Levine specialize in stilettos but she made the white stiletto boots worn by Nancy Sinatra in her big hit 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.

Mrs. Levine had reignited a trend for boots in the 1960’s with her stretchy stocking styles and vinyl Go-Go boots, designed for dancing, (or walking all over you). When Ms. Sinatra released her anthem of women’s empowerment in 1966, she was shown in film made for early video jukeboxes wearing the style from Herbert Levine. The song increased the demand for fashion boots so much that Saks Fifth Avenue opened a corner in its shoe department called Beth’s Bootery.

Writing for the NYT in 2006, Eric Wilson says that although Beth Levine worked closely with fashion designers --collaborating with Helmut Lang and James Galanos-- she could be critical of designers and their relationships with women. Her niece Nan Bush, the companion (NYT writes 'wife'), agent and producing partner of photographer Bruce Weber explained that Beth Levine was attuned to the relationship between fashion and female psychology. Recalling introducing her aunt to designer Gianni Versace at a restaurant, Levine expressed her thoughts:

“The first thing she said was: ‘You should be ashamed of yourself. Some of those clothes you make are really degrading to women,’ ’’ Ms. Bush said. “But by the end of the night, they were friends.”

Clearly a Smart Sensuality woman, Beth Levine also saw shoes as an expression of female power, but her women were more liberated -- in that old-fashioned feminist sort of way. Lady Violette de Courcy, who lived with the Levines as a young ballet dancer in New York writes:

Beth Levine often said, “If your feet hurt, my feet hurt.” Her shoes were elegant and incredibly comfortable. There is not another designer’s shoes to this day that are as comfortable for me as hers. She really meant what she said and knew what she was doing.

As a woman who has worn stilettos for years, including to the office, I side with Beth Levine on the subject of not enjoying a sado-masochistic relationship with my shoes. One can walk assertively and with great competency in stilettos -- at a reasonable height, of course -- and assuming that one isn't crippled with a state of precarious balance -- as the VS Angels say they are crippled by the weight of their fashion show wings.

Jennifer Lopez 'Louboutins'

Christian Louboutin lost his recent court case against YSL in which he asserted that he alone is the master of red-soled shoes.

"Red outsoles are a commonly used ornamental design feature in footwear, dating as far back as the red shoes worn by King Louis XIV in the 1600s and the ruby red shoes that carried Dorothy home in The Wizard of Oz." argued the YSL lawyers. 

Rachelle Bergstein continues in her blog post 'A Little History of Red Shoes':

Red shoes—if not always red soles—have long been associated with issues of power and identity. During the reign of Louis XIV, only aristocratic men had the right to wear shoes with red heels—they were strictly reserved for the court. Thus the color neatly distinguished between the haves and have-nots. Red dye at the time was expensive, made by crushing the dried bodies of an imported Mexican insect called the cochineal, and only royals and their cohort could afford it. The shoes went out of style with the French Revolution—not a time when one flaunted one's wealth and status.

One of the most noteworthy shoe collaborations in recent years was the 2007 project by filmmaker David Lynch and Christian Louboutin, who produced 'Fetish' for Design Art London.

Many believe Louboutin's sexy red soles to be art forms in their own right, but he has taken this fetishistic view of footwear to a new extreme with this series that's more sculptural than wearable. Lynch, in his signature darkly twisted and sensual style, shot images of women bound into these sadomasochistic creations. via CoolHunting

Writing for Psychology Today, Michael Bruce suggests in Smeared Makeup and Stiletto Heels that Brett Lunceford's essay about 'Clothing, Sexuality and the Walk of Shame' also ties stilettos to sexuality.

High heels are worn not only at the club, but also in the workplace, and as such could be coded as professional wear, but despite their presence in the workplace, high heels are coded as quintessentially feminine and as sexy. Moreover, the heels that the women may wear during the walk of shame (or simply carry, thus reinforcing their discomfort) are not the heels of the workplace, but rather the stiletto heels of the club that are associated with sexiness. Yet, I suggest that these heels serve not only as a symbol, but also as an index in that they actually reshape the body to more fully conform to societal norms of attractiveness by elongating the leg and creating the illusion of leaner, sexier legs. Moreover, such shoes cause the wearer to walk in such a way that hip motion is accentuated, thus drawing attention to the pelvic area. Once again, this sign may be directed not only outwardly, but also toward herself.

British artist Isabeli Buenz makes extravagant and  splendid paper shoes as beautiful as they are fetish-like objects of desire. See website and Virtual Shoe Museum.

Writer Rachelle Bergstein closes the discussion, linking all these dots together -- including Levine and Louboutin -- whether one agrees or not with her conclusions. Note that Bergstein's book 'Women From the Ankle Down' -- a social history of women and shoes—will be published by HarperCollins in Spring 2012.

In the last decade, Louboutin's red soles have become a sort of visual shorthand that signals a woman's high economic status and power. They also carry an undercurrent of the risqué, like the glimpse of a red lace bra strap under a conservative blouse. In this way, Louboutin's shoes have become the stuff of a modern-day fairy tale. Just as in Andersen's story, they symbolize independence and high status. The woman who wears them is given the opportunity to transcend economic and social boundaries—except this being branding, and not grim Danish storytelling, she ends up, not ashamed, but "empowered" by the shoes. Time and again, pop culture reinforces this narrative. In Jennifer Lopez’s single “Louboutins,” she invokes the red sole as the last thing her cheating lover will see now that she’s found the courage to leave him (not unlike Nancy Sinatra's calling upon the strength of her boots to keep her walking). 2009’s silly thriller Obsessed showed Ali Larter’s character—a sexy temp with a pathological crush on her married boss—climbing his stairs at the climax of the movie with her red soles flashing behind her. And recently, the heroines of two USA dramas, "Covert Affairs" and "Fairly Legal" have been costumed in Louboutins to underscore their status as successful, self-possessed women.

It seems that Beth Levine would utter "now if women could only walk in them and experience real orgasmic bliss in bed, rather than agony in their arches . . . ". Christian Louboutin would reply: "Many only see shoe as a functional accessory to be able walk. However, some are made to run, others to swim… Some are made for sex."

It seems to me that is you are always 'in the mood for intimacy and good sex', then comfortable stilettos are the best compromise.

A conversation to be continued . . . Anne