Archive for January, 2009
Shoes
January 14th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Recently I went to the best museum display ever – SHOES! It was called “Heights of Fashion. A History of the Elevated Foot”. As soon as I heard about it there was no way I was going to miss it!
I wasn’t always a shoe nut. When I was younger we weren’t well off (read as an understatement) and when I hit my teens I had to buy all my own clothes with my babysitting money. For a good portion of my adult life (so far) I worked at low wage jobs. So pretty shoes weren’t a priority. Plus, I have larger, wide feet so it was hard to find pretty shoes that fit, especially in my price range.
When Payless came to town, I was in heaven. Cheap shoes that fit!!! Now I can afford better shoes and, as a friend commented one day, I have a shoe shrine in my front entry. Not to mention the ones in my closet that are put away according to season. I have become a “typical” girl who loves a gorgeous shoe. Having something beautiful on my feet makes a difference in the way I feel from the top of my blonde and purple head to the tip of my finely adorned toes.
Shoes have been a remarkable barometer of society over the centuries. From men wearing heels to show their status in the Victorian era to the subdued shoes embossed with simple items like rope in the 30s, the look-at-me shoes of the 70s and the sleek classics of today, shoes have reflected the mood of the culture.
Two things that stood out to me were boots in the 1890’s. This is a time when women could not show an ankle as it was too distracting for the horny men. So to tease a little, boots were created that were one color along the sole and another half way up the foot. This created the illusion of seeing stocking. They also created boots with considerable embossment to encourage looking at the leg. Cheeky! Naughty without being naughty. Who knew there were BAD KITTIES in the 1900s!
During the suffragette movement there was a lot of concern about women becoming more like men. Sound familiar? This is an ongoing concern – do we have to be men to function in a man’s world? Let me pose this quote to you:
“By the turn of the 20th century social and political opportunities for women rose dramatically and women began to participate in what had previously been masculine privilege. They did so, however, WEARING HEELS. As clear signifiers of female gender, high heels helped to counter arguments that new freedoms could only be gained at the loss of femininity. By the 20s the heels and hemlines of flappers had reached new heights as had the opportunities available to women.”
Wonderful! We are who we are and we don’t have to become something else – another gender – or someone else to succeed!!!
THE POWER OF SHOES! As Marilyn Munroe said, “I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.”
All girls celebrate, pull out your best heels and kick them up. You deserve it. BE BEAUTIFUL, BE YOU and enjoy your BAD KITTY in heels!
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One Day
As I’ve said before, I love men. I love having them in my life. Some of my best friends are men. I love having them around to talk to and for much more fun things. My life would be considerably less interesting without men. That said, one thing is becoming increasingly clear:
Men just don’t get it.
Most of the women readers are going – I know, I know! I don’t mean in general, though, I mean specifically about my business. In general most men are pretty savvy about the things men are savvy about. And some about many more things as well. When it comes to my business, though, they are single minded, and not in the right direction. Their train goes to one place and stays there.
I’ve been asked many times if I’ll include men in my business. Usually I answer, maybe eventually. The true answer is, very unlikely.
When I talk to men about my business all they see is how it can get them laid more. The word Sensuality turns into Sexuality in their mind and their words. They see women tramping around in high heels and short skirts coming onto them. They see the Hollywood stripper in their bedroom.
Sorry, boys – er – men. That’s not what it’s all about.
Ladies, I want to release you from that image. In order to be attractive and enjoy your life, you need to BE YOU! Everyone is beautiful when they are being true to themselves. No matter what the current ideal is, you are beautiful when you are comfortable in your own skin.
Some of you, when you regain your confidence and your zest for life may want to wear heels and short skirts. Wonderful.
I certainly have grown very fond of the heel. When I was a teen I would wear high heels. Eventually I let all those people who said, “you’re already so tall, why are you wearing heels?” get to me. I became afraid to stand out anymore than I already did at 6′. I became afraid of making men feel short so that they wouldn’t ask me out. Surprise, they didn’t anyway! Not because of my height but because I was hiding myself. Now I wear heels nearly everyday, sometimes as tall as 4″ and enjoy every minute of it!
My motto has become, why play small? I am here to inspire others to be fully themselves, so my playing small doesn’t serve that purpose.
On the same note, why worry about being misunderstood? Whether it’s a man thinking that I’m trying to turn all women into hot, sex hungry hookers or women who think that I’m encouraging loose activity or many other thoughts people have around THE BAD KITTY, it doesn’t mean I should dilute or back away from my mission.
Did Edison stay in the dark? Did Ben Franklin take his kite and go home when the neighbors laughed at him in the rain? Did Galileo pretend the sun revolved around the earth just because he was put prison by fearful zealots? Did Oprah sit on her butt when she was told there were no successful black women on TV? Did Mother Teresa stop when faced with the possibility of contracting one of the many illnesses of those she was helping? The examples are endless.
I have a quote in my office: “Do something that nobody else has done, something that will DAZZLE the world!”
One day THE BAD KITTY will be a well known entity. It may still be misunderstood by some, but the word will be out there for anyone who cares to learn. People will want to know the key to JOY POWER. And they’ll know what it means! People will shun the concept of conventional beauty. Or maybe the concept will change… wouldn’t that be something! Women the world over will own the phrase BE BEAUTIFUL, BE YOU.
Will you be part of the beginning of a revolution? It’s going to be a great ride!