Mythbusting: Toe tape

This is a post from one my archives, I hope you will it’s an interesting technique that is worth exploring.

The term foot binding, will always be associated with the horrific and tortuous procedure historically performed on Chinese women prior to the 20th Century. You might argue we put ourselves through similar tortures forcing our feet to shape of a heeled shoe, it’s true but we do it through choice, and we can liberate our feet whenever we choose. Now ironically it’s a form of foot binding that is supposed to help.

According to Marie Helvin, taping together toes three and four (counted from your big toe) will stop you from suffering in your heels. I can report having tried it, it does indeed seem to work. Why I’m not totally sure, but my weight seems to be more evenly spread, without the tape I feel my feet rolling outwards, instead when taped the weight is more towards the ball of my big toe.

My Elbas are really easy to wear, but the tape means I can stand in one spot a lot longer. It does only make sense with closed toe shoes, but still works even when the vamp is really low cut.

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Mythbusting: Toe tape

The term foot binding, will always be associated with the horrific and tortuous procedure historically performed on Chinese women prior to the 20th Century. You might argue we put ourselves through similar tortures forcing our feet to shape of a heeled shoe, it’s true but we do it through choice, and we can liberate our feet whenever we choose. Now ironically it’s a form of foot binding that is supposed to help.

According to Marie Helvin, taping together toes three and four (counted from your big toe) will stop you from suffering in your heels. I can report having tried it, it does indeed seem to work. Why I’m not totally sure, but my weight seems to be more evenly spread, without the tape I feel my feet rolling outwards, instead when taped the weight is more towards the ball of my big toe.

My Elbas are really easy to wear, but the tape means I can stand in one spot a lot longer. It does only make sense with closed toe shoes, but still works even when the vamp is really low cut.

Cheat with platforms

Platforms are a great way to get you extra height for free, I’ll admit it’s cheating but what’s life if you don’t find some shortcuts. Effectively the platform reduces the heel height by the same amount as the platform. So if you usually wear a 10cm heel, you could wear a 12cm heel with 2cm platform.

The trick is to be subtle in your approach, and nobody does it quite as well as our friends in Italy. A hidden platform can give you 1-1.5cm without showing much, and if the shoe is cut well it will draw attention away from the platform

Nicholas Kirkwood loves to live dangerously, his shoes are extremely low cut to show loads of toe cleavage, and a defined arch. Teaming them with a pair of fishnets is a good way add more drama, but usually I’ll go bare with these.

Running Before You Walk

Following on from my intro to learning to walk, I shall be going into a little more detail. Platforms and wedges complicate things, so for simplicity I shall ignore them here, and deal only with single sole shoes designs.

From left to right How best to progress in height

When you’re tense you will fatigue faster, that is the cause of discomfort and pain. Crucial to being comfortable in heels is being relaxed and at ease, to become one with your shoes. If you haven’t been in heels for a while, or wearing a height much more than you’re used to, you’ve probably felt that pressure in your calves, that’s one big cause of tension.