Stilted Advice

Finally, some really useful content in my daily newspaper: Today's Star Tribune reprinted an article from the San Francisco Chronicle on how to walk in 4" stilettos without damaging your body.

A shoe designer named Victor Chu has been promoting a method he worked out after designing shoes for Tommy Hilfiger. One can't help wondering if he's tried it out himself.

Let's just say I'm skeptical about the likelihood of being able to add 4" of height to your heels without unintended consequences. And this article did little to convince me otherwise. It was accompanied by an inane sidebar that attempted to describe the method:

1. Stand tall, as if pulled by a string from the top of your head.
2. Tighten abs by pulling belly button in toward spine, causing weight to shift back to your heels.
3. Walk heel to toe, not on ball of foot.
4. Sway hips slightly to help shift weight to heels.

If you're not clear on how to do all that, despite the helpful list, perhaps this video from YouTube will make it clearer. (That video has been viewed by over 600,000 people.) No? I thought not.

This photo, from a book called X-Ray: See Through the World Around You by Nick Veasey, shows what's happening to the foot while wearing stilettos.

That looks an awful lot like standing on tiptoe to me. And I don't think any amount of belly button pulling or hip swaying is going to change that fact.

Needless to say, I won't hold my breath waiting for the orthopedic doctors to endorse Chu's method.