Leanie van der Vyver: "heels."

By sarahendren

Oct 26, 2012

I’m always interested in prosthetics that create slowness, as opposed to speed; disruption, as opposed to efficiency. Like Sitraka Rakotoniaina and Harry Vermeulen’s Time Conditioning piece, or Jessica Field’s Maladjusted Ecosystem. So I also love these shoes by Leanie van der Vyver:

close up shot of a woman in leather "heels." The shoes have the higher heel in front, braced by the front of the calf, so the wearer must bend at an awkward angle to wear them.

A medium shot of the same young woman in these two-heeled inverted shoes.

Watch the video to see how they comment so pointedly on the sky-high hobbled walk imposed by heels—in this case inverted entirely. (You’ll have to click through to Vimeo; they’ve made it impossible to embed it here.)

The model, bent severely at the knees, shoes creating an atypical posture in her apparent search for high fashion. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/51286982 w=500&h=281]

Scary Beautiful shoes by Leanie van der Vyver from Dezeen on Vimeo. Read more at De Zeen or on Leanie’s web site. Thanks, Kristofer.