The Rise and Rise of Killer Heels

The Rise and Rise of Killer Heels - Taller, brighter, more decorative. This summer's shoes are not for the faint of heart... or foot..

This season there is a new favourite shoe in the shape of Louis Vuitton's Spicy heels.

There is no doubt the influence of celebrities has a huge impact on our choice of footwear. The shoes already have a celebrity fan base which includes Alexa Chung and Victoria Beckham.

Louis Vuitton’s exotic "Spicy" range shook the shoe biz galaxy to the core this spring – rocketing the $2,000-plus shoe from a luxury people dreamt about to an A-list must-have.

Conjured up by creative director Marc Jacobs and his Paris team, "Spicys" are a cocktail of snakeskin, feathers, fringing, beads, leopard-print, rivets, laces, metallics and sequins, costing between $2,200 and $4,000. They caused a surge of lust among the celebrity pack and turned diminutive divas such as Victoria Beckham and Madonna into towering titans.

The Rise and Rise of Killer Heels - The heeled shoe has been a prominent feature in both men and women’s wardrobes for centuries. Their evolution has seen a wonderful array of shapes and sizes to date. There’s no doubt heels have never been as high as they are now.

A couple of years ago you would have struggled to find a pair of heels over 4 inches high. Take a walk into any shoe shop today and shelves are laden with precarious platforms and slender stilettos.

There is another factor being held responsible for the boom in the high heel market, which is the recession.

Also, there are suggestions that the new fiercer styles are due to women wanting to appear superior to their male counterparts.

The higher and more extreme high heels become, the higher risk they pose to. Models have been dropping like flies at various fashion weeks and falling from grace in perilously high heels. They aren’t the only ones; a study has shown that on average 45% of women have fallen or twisted their ankle whilst wearing high heels.

Despite the hazards associated with high heels we just can’t get enough of them. The attraction is down to the way they make our legs appear longer and slimmer. They also flatten our tummy and make our bottom and breasts protrude.