From Robin Givhan's fashion-and-politics account of Trump's Bible-laden procession to St. John's Episcopal Church.
It wasn't a terribly far walk...
... but I was struck that the women had to — or chose to — wear stilettos. It made me think of those traditions of crawling to church — deliberately taking on pain and suffering as you make your way to the sacred destination. There are similarities and differences...
The look is not meant to say I am suffering. The idea is to walk fluidly alongside the men as if it's completely natural and perfectly comfortable. There's no visible expression of humility or sacrifice. If anything, the expression is of pride in the prettiness, the extra height, and the complete hiding of any difficulty.
So, it's a bit like a hair shirt, which is a hidden item of clothing that inflicts suffering and is worn as penitence. And yet the stilettos are not worn in secret. They are quite conspicuous and that is the point. And the suffering is merely endured, not undertaken for a higher purpose.
Have stilettos gone out of fashion? Robin Givhan — whose work requires her to keep up with fashion — calls them a "style of footwear that this White House, all on its own, may be keeping in circulation." That has to mean they are passé. Maybe it's like the way right-wing women in the 1960s continued to wear teased, sprayed bouffant hairdos long after other women had moved on to what was called "the natural look."
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"Liberal" and "progressive" women are always annoyed when other women don't look like Bella Abzug.
(eaglebeak)
Maybe Althouse should try her hand at combining politics and "style" in fashion columns for the WaPo.
This post is pretty politics-and-style-laden.
Personally, I'd rather be Bible-laden, but chacun a son gout,
Looterettes in LA were wearing tiny skirts and stiletto heels while looting a smoldering CVS drug store. Somehow I feel Givhan would be praising rather than panning their shoes.
Keep hate alive.
They may be passé, but I see a lot of them in Korean dramas, worn by characters who are meant to be seen as stylish. Since the fashions I see in the shows often show up in the US a year or so later, maybe they are out of fashion now and Givhan just isn't aware yet that they'll be coming back in.
When you wear stilettos all the time you are not usually uncomfortable. In my early 20's I would speed walk 3/4 mile to the subway with ease. If you wear heels all the time the tendons and muscles in your leg change making flat shoes painful.
Robin Givhan — whose work requires her to keep up with fashion
Ten seconds on the innerwebs brings me to the Vogue Top Collections of Paris Fashion Week page where there are multitude of stiletto shoes and boots.
Robin Givhan's work is to always find something catty to say about Trump women.
The photo op was reportedly Ivanka’s brilliant idea. I hope her purse didn’t get too heavy carrying that Bible, that extra weight while wearing her stilettos could’ve caused her to turn an ankle.
Stiletto heels can be used as a decent weapon if needed.
The left always turns to criticizing conservative women for their fashion, without fail. My theory is that conservative women are more likely to embrace their femininity and see it as an advantage, whereas progressive women have been convinced to see everything as a power struggle and that any differences from men (who supposedly have all the power) is therefore a sign of weakness.
That and insecurity because leftist women are generally uglier than conservative women.
So it’s all about the clothes. How superficial can a reporter get?
Have stilettos gone out of fashion? Robin Givhan — whose work requires her to keep up with fashion — calls them a "style of footwear that this White House, all on its own, may be keeping in circulation."
A Party in the USA?
Cause' all I see are stilettos
I guess I never got the memo
I always liked that rhyming of "memo" and "stilettos".
Everybody's looking at me now
Like "who's that chick, that's rockin' kicks?
She's gotta be from out of town"
So hard with my girls not around me
Its definitely not a Nashville party
Cause' all I see are stilettos
I guess I never got the memo
It's just more of the same relentless propaganda.
Nothing Republicans do is proper.
Republican women can't be beautiful
Republican women can't make their own choices.
Everything Republicans do is "staged," a "photo-op." As if there wasn't a show-biz aspect to liberal politics as well.
The negativity is oppressive and inescapable. The implied promise is that the negativity will go away only if OrangeManBad and his lovely hand-maidens leave the White House in November.
If this is being done in penitence, then isn't it about like upper middle class white women declaring their 'white privilege'? Or is that just about a display of virtue?
It's amazing how the usual suspects (Inga, etc) and the Media have freaked out about going to that church. It seems like a cross held up when confronting a vampire.
Have stilettos gone out of fashion?
Whatever one of the Trump women wears is by definition out of fashion.
Barr looks like the 3 minute walk has winded him.
he is definitely in high risk group for COVID and other viruses (viri?)
Stilettos. For men, they say "Fuck me". For other women, they say "Fuck you, I still got it!!".
More of a signal to stop wearing those shoes, because Republican women wear them.
Well-made (and often expensive) stilettos of the kind the Trump women wear (Manolo Blanik, etc.) are actually quite comfortable. They are not hair shirts for the feet. You need some practice walking in them so as to maintain your balance, but I'm sure that Ivanka and Melania get plenty of practice with that. It's cheap stilettos that are painful to walk in and give stilettos a bad name. Most women don't like to spend a lot of money on shoes--so they might endure cheap stilettos for a few years when they are young and want to pursue glam--and then they swear off "high heels" for good and switch to sneakers or something else equally ugly, never having known a pair of high-quality high heels. This gives high heels a bad rap. Of course, even the best-quality high heels aren't suitable for walking long distances--but the trip across Lafayette Square from the White House to St. John's Church is the equivalent of about two blocks.
Well-made (and often expensive) stilettos of the kind the Trump women wear (Manolo Blanik, etc.) are actually quite comfortable. They are not hair shirts for the feet. You need some practice walking in them so as to maintain your balance, but I'm sure that Ivanka and Melania get plenty of practice with that. It's cheap stilettos that are painful to walk in and give stilettos a bad name. Most women don't like to spend a lot of money on shoes--so they might endure cheap stilettos for a few years when they are young and want to pursue glam--and then they swear off "high heels" for good and switch to sneakers or something else equally ugly, never having known a pair of high-quality high heels. This gives high heels a bad rap. Of course, even the best-quality high heels aren't suitable for walking long distances--but the trip across Lafayette Square from the White House to St. John's Church is the equivalent of about two blocks.
cacimbo said...
When you wear stilettos all the time you are not usually uncomfortable. In my early 20's I would speed walk 3/4 mile to the subway with ease. If you wear heels all the time the tendons and muscles in your leg change making flat shoes painful.
----------============
could stilettos be remedy for heel spurs? maybe Should President Trump wear them.
I am picturing stiletto commandos - can also be used as bayonets
Stilettos never go out of style.
And never have to leave the house.
Robin is a poor person who does not know anything about fashion first hand. She does not wear those clothes nor do members of her social circle. She is a “critic” who has no technical understanding of her subject so she is left to riffing on cultural subjects. With Ill concealed envy Lurking in snark.
Oh those aren’t come fuck me heels. They are fuck you heels.
Reporting like this sorta re-affirms that whatever awful consequences there will be downstream because of the riots and the arson, it is still somewhat theatre in mode, and we aren’t in any serious, like, species-level trouble, that is, I am guessing, until there are news reports of the monkeys stealing high heeled shoes
Maybe Ivanka carries in that big purse of hers.
Ivanka's backup
I know a woman who is a major scientist and very well dressed generally who wears stilettos. She never seems to have any trouble walking in them. Makes a fair amount of noise coming down the hall, though.
If only Trump had worn an Hawaiian shirt.
"Everything Republicans do is "staged," a "photo-op." As if there wasn't a show-biz aspect to liberal politics as well."
When Senile Joe blabbers on at the Floyd funeral about racial justice, Inga will have orgasms.
Penitence is an interesting theme, since the chief demand of the protesters, woke politicians and celebrities, corporate America, etc is not anything specifically related to law enforcement but rather a more general demand for white Americans to be more penitent and contrite.
Apparently if we all don our racial hair shirts and feel really bad about how tough life is for black people, gentle giants like George Floyd won't die anymore while they're resisting arrest. Or something.
Anti-racism is a heretical post Christian religion, with blacks as earth bound angels who are suffering for whitey's sins.
Charlotte Allen said...
Well-made (and often expensive) stilettos of the kind the Trump women wear (Manolo Blanik, etc.) are actually quite comfortable. They are not hair shirts for the fee"
She's understandably showed down in recent years, but Tina Turner of the famous legs was able to move around quite well on stilettos on a concert stage - precisely because she wasn't wearing cheap shoes and knew how to walk and dance in them. Has anybody ever accused her of wearing hair shirts for the feet?
Go to Italy and you'll see stunningly beautiful women in heels walking quite gracefully on cobblestoned streets - a trick I never managed to learn. They don't look like they are suffering.
Michael K said... It's amazing how the usual suspects (Inga, etc) and the Media have freaked out about going to that church. It seems like a cross held up when confronting a vampire.
It was an effective photo op. The Left really hates it when they get preempted on photo ops.
They have the sole right to manipulate images to the American people.
Women wear stilettos in safe spaces. I guess the semiotics involved was the wish to emphasize that they were walking in a safe space. This was not territory owned by the church burners.
Most women don't like to spend a lot of money on shoes--so they might endure cheap stilettos for a few years when they are young and want to pursue glam--and then they swear off "high heels" for good and switch to sneakers or something else equally ugly, never having known a pair of high-quality high heels.
This is true of basically all shoes, and most clothing.
The difference between a cheap pair of boots and a pair of well-made, well-fitting boots during a 12-mile road march is incredible. Ditto being on your feet all day in dress shoes. And if a guy says that they find a suit and tie uncomfortable, it's usually the case that they've only worn ill-fitting and poorly made versions.
Givhan is just flat out lying here. Stilettos are still popular. Peruse any designer website for shoes and you’ll see...they’re everywhere.
Givhan is just plain lying. Peruse any designer website and you’ll see. Lots of stilettos. And, if not exactly those, sky high heels in general.
I've always liked those kind of high heels too you know, I
No no no no, don't take 'em off, don't take leave 'em on, leave 'em on
Everybody Wants Some
Oh, where'd you get that shit?
Oh, that, I like it
I like the way the line runs up the back of the stockings
I've always liked those kind of high heels too you know, I
No no no no, don't take 'em off, don't take leave 'em on, leave 'em on
Yeah, that's it, a little more to the right, a little more
Everybody wants some
I want some too
Everybody wants some
Baby, how 'bout you?
Givhan is just plain lying.
Washington Post, so of course.
Peruse any designer website and you’ll see. Lots of stilettos. And, if not exactly those, sky high heels in general.
You mean like how ~90% of the shoes shown in a google image search on women's designer shoes look a lot like the horribly passe shoes Ivanka wore?
Next they'll be whining about systemic shoeism and fashion police brutality.
If you plan on burning buildings, I would recommend comfortable running shoes. Also it's important to wear a mask and maintain social distancing from the police. Arsonist chic in a time of cholera.
So stilettos are a dog whistle. Got it. So are "comfortable shoes."
Remember, this is the same newspaper that compared Stacy Abrams to a runway model. True - if the runway we're talking about is at LaGuardia.
The media is openly lying about what we can see with our own eyes. Hence, rioters and thugs are "peaceful protesters." Antifa scum wearing anarchist symbols are "far right wing." And Melania and Ivanka aren't beautiful and fashionable, they are dowdy. Stacy Abrams and Michele Obama are gorgeous.
Oh brother? Back when Manolos first became a thing, I would read about how they were the most comfortable things in the world!
This is just a Mean Girls rant. Robin is mad they looked good walking over there and wants to vent about it.
She looks good. Fashion cliques begrudge their neighbor's good fortune.
Ivanaka is a model. She doesn't wear "passe" shoes. They aren't passe and they can cost a fortune.
Keep hate alive.
Yeah, be wary what you normalize. #HateLovesAbortion
Comparing The current Press secretary and Ivanka (or the first lady) to frumpy middle class women who worked for Nixon is laughable.
That Robin Givhan won the Pulitzer Prize only goes to show 1) that the big papers award each other the prizes and 2) that ours is a culture mired in triviality. Attempts to make the trivial and superficial significant don't escape triviality and superficiality.
I assumed Givhan was a cheerleader for Michelle Obama. She was that much of the time, but she also launched some arrows at Michelle's fashion choices. Now that Barack is out of the White House it looks like Robin and Michelle have made up. But she was never going to give Trump or his women any kind of a break.
William said...
If you plan on burning buildings, I would recommend comfortable running shoes. Also it's important to wear a mask and maintain social distancing from the police. Arsonist chic in a time of cholera."
Can't top your comment. However perhaps a red mask with the hammer and sickle and a Che T shirt as fashion acesories?
@Althouse, envy of a woman who is young, tall, beautiful, elegant, and rich is not a good look for Robin Givan or any other woman. FWIW my wife agrees with Charlotte Allen (10:10) though I don’t recollect seeing my love in any heels taller than three inches.
Ivanka is Republican and hot. Givehan is not.
Feminine beauty.
She wears CFM shoes for Daddy. It looks like she just got her eyes redone.
I thought we Republican rubes liked our women barefoot and pregnant.
Most women don't like to spend a lot of money on shoes
You've obviously never met my wife.
Can't top your comment. However perhaps a red mask with the hammer and sickle and a Che T shirt as fashion acesories?
@cubanbob, just, whatever you do, do not wear a red hat. I read that a man was beaten by rioters for wearing a red cap — not a MAGA cap, just the same red color as a MAGA cap.
And what of Trump's shoe choices? What is he, chopped liver?
Saying they’re comfortable is part of making it appear easy.
dont let those phonies drag on your shoes--
Louboutin-the-rear for those Frauds!
Wear any style you Choo's
And eschew all that Frizon, Maud!
The Cankle Club (Hillary/Loretta Lynch/ M1A1 Abrams)
...will never approve anyway. Stand Tall.
For the national football championship earlier this year (when LSU trounced Clemson), I was sitting in the suite immediately adjacent to the suite the President was in, about 7 seats away from the First Couple. I happened to notice Mrs. Trump's stiletto boots. At LEAST 6 inches high, probably closer to 8". I was very impressed with the skill it must take to walk in those... and she walked on the stadium's artificial turf in them!
cacimbo said...
When you wear stilettos all the time you are not usually uncomfortable. In my early 20's I would speed walk 3/4 mile to the subway with ease. If you wear heels all the time the tendons and muscles in your leg change making flat shoes painful.
My nephew has told me that's why we never see his mother in anything but heels. I've known her since shortly after meeting my wife to be. Even back then she was always in heels. OTOH, my wife has never worn them but for parties. And not all of them. And since getting mechanical knees, never.
But as for heels being out of style- I remember way back when we could all freely walk through malls. Anyone who observes 20 something women in a mall and then says heels are out of style isn't observing. Not that I notice such things....
Saying they’re comfortable is part of making it appear easy.
You mean even if a woman assures me she’s comfortable, I’m not supposed to believe her?
In parts of South Korea, in good weather, it is traditional to take a Sunday hike/climb up certain steep mountain trails. I saw Korean ladies in heels on those trails. Some of them climbed higher than I was willing to go. The top was bare rock, windy and slippery.
My dear late clothes-horse Mother who attended HS & College in the '30s wore hi-healed shoes every day of her life even when in HS! LOL! Her best friend & HS classmate who lived down the street (and whose husband was the family optometrist--I grew up playing with their two sons) used to laugh every time she told the story. The '30s were a more formal time, but... :)
Good Stilettos are comfortable to walk in as long as you are walking on a paved road and they fit well. Of course Ivanka’s fit well!
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