Fashion/style: Should we endanger our health for the sake of our looks?

If it’s your first time to see this, you will agree with me that quite a big number of women across the globe love wearing high heeled shoes, despite their negative effects like hammertoe, bunions and pinched nerves in the feet. The history of high heeled shoes is not clear, but it dates back to pre-Christian times. It is said that Egyptian butchers wore high heels to rise above the carnage, and Mongolian horsemen wore them to grip firmly. However, the first recorded year high heels were worn for vanity was 1533, when Catherine de Medicis (who was to be the queen of France 1547-1559) bought them from Florence to Paris for her marriage to the Duke d’Orleans. The style was immediately set forth by ladies from the French court. As the old adage goes, ‘What goes up must come down.” Medical experts have urged that constant high heeled wear is unhealthy because it can cause serious damage to the person’s feet. Brain Kayitare, is a graduate from Kigali Health Institute (KHI). He says wearing high heels for a long period of time can cause the heel to adapt to the position of the shoe, thus leading to unhealthy problems, like hammertoe and bunions. Some women do not want to know what should qualify as high heeled shoes. Though those who are not familiar to wearing them may feel that even a two or three inch heel is pretty high. They say that they make them uncomfortable while walking and painful when they stand for long. “Call me weird, but I can’t stand high-heels. I’m not all that tall or short. But I am simply contented with my height,” said Justine Uwera, a school teacher. To her, there is nothing sexy about high-heels and they make women uncomfortable yet they cannot walk far with them. So of what benefit are they to ladies? One reason most women will die for high heeled shoes despite their negative effects is because they like to make themselves taller and stand more equal to everyone else. “The main reason women wear them is because they have a way of forcing better posture and making our calves look shapely,” says Bagwire, adding that, “They make you stand up straight, which pushes both your bust and butt out, thus making one attractive.” Of course everything has got both negative and positive effects. In this case, as many claim, the length of the high heeled shoes makes one look taller and sexy. This illusion has captured the mentality of many women, raising their enthusiasm to buy as many pairs of heels of different inches for different occasions. Women and girls wear high heeled shoes on a number of occasions, parties and night-outs; of course these are good incidents to wear heels. Hope so! Again, office wear is popular in certain occupations. With an air of feminine authority and visual height, they can be of great impact at the workplace. Yet, the impression is so apparent that your co-workers will probably start admiring your designers. The kinds of heels women normally wear are smart black high heeled shoes. Considering the principle of ‘Choice and Preferences,’ different people prefer different heights, but the lower heels are more common. They are worn to a larger variety of occasions such as dinner parties, work and even to more reserved events at Church or funerals. According to many, high black heel is looks more fabulous. Heels have got different types and labels. For instance, the tapered heel or the block heel makes the leg look different. Women wear these shoes for style and to show a level of sophistication that they can never show in flat shoes. It’s again believed that high heeled shoes make a woman’s body more appealing. They change the whole posture a woman displays. While wearing high heels, a woman’s curves are more pronounced because of the position of her chest. She also walks gracefully different. High heels not only make women look better, but they also feel pretty wearing them which is visualised in the confidence they carry. Ends