Belinda has been going on at me ever since I started this BLOG about putting some of her work on it.  I haven’t deliberately been ignoring her , just had so little time what with one thing or the other, but perhaps it’s time now to give her a chance to show off her talents – so here goes with ;

 HIGH HEELS      or      of the FOOT and of the SHOE.

by Belinda Mosse

How many shoes make a fetish and what exactly does the word mean ??.  You might find the answer here, and then on the other hand ( or foot ) you might not !!.  But I’m sure you will find it interesting.

The word fetish originally came from the Guinea coast of Africa where it was used to describe especially designated objects used in primitive tribal worship often with some kind of magical or sexual connection.  But in modern times fetish ( or fetishism ) is used more generally to describe objects or parts of the body which command intense sexual interest often to the degree of obsession.

Abnormally stimulating or what ??

Women’s shoes – especially very high heeled shoes - are considered by some to be a modern fetish object and I suppose I have to agree with that. Although my dictionary defines the word fetish as an object worshipped as magical by primitive peoples it also says that it is something evoking irrational devotion or respect.  Now that sounds a bit more like it to me .

HIGH HEELS

And yet another interpretation is for something abnormally stimulating or attracting sexual desire.  Hmm , pretty near the mark again , but I wonder what is considered abnormal ?? Not me I hope.

Well, I  know I’m not primitive ( well maybe just a little bit – on certain occasions ) and I don’t think my shoes are magical but I do have an enormous collection of high heeled shoes and I just love wearing them.   I suppose that some people may say that  I’m mad , others that I really do have some kind of fetish  - and perhaps I have , but I just find this kind of footwear so irresistible.

As I stood looking into a shop window on one of my trips to London’s Oxford Street  some years ago , a man came up behind me and said “ I do like your shoes “.  I turned round and in a surprised tone of voice replied  “ Oh , thank you .  I just love high heels “ . He continued , “ you don’t see many ladies wearing them that high these days “ and then he went on his way.

At the time I was wearing a pair of fairly unusual blue mosiacs with about a four and a half inch heel – not that high I must say , but rather nice nevertheless.    Although I have worn high heels ever since my young teenage days , that was the first time this kind of thing had happened to me , but it was not the last.

My very own collection

I have to admit that I really do love shoes and in fact I am fascinated even by just looking at them in  shop windows.  If there is ever a really big shoe sale on then it could prove fatal for me.   My collection of boots , shoes and sandals in various styles and colours have long overflowed my wardrobes and until recently I kept lots of them stored in their boxes in the spare room.  Although most of the boxes are quite attractive with little pictures of the contents on the outside , I thought that maybe my guests wouldn’t really appreciate lying in bed looking at them from the corner of their eyes so I got Mark to make me a dressing room fitting especially for them.

Shoes are of course a part of every woman’s wardrobe and are a necessity  for day to day use, but I think that the kind we wear depicts our mood and overall well being.    For instance when working I always wear low comfortable shoes.  This is just a matter of common sense as they are much kinder to the feet when working in conditions where a lot of standing is involved. 

On the other hand , when I wear shall we say a pair of lovely bright pink strappy high heeled sandals I feel kind of European inside and out.  I feel like having fun  , feel so alive and can just imagine parading in the hot sunshine through a bustling market square with the sound of the traders calling out their wares to sell.  Hold on – I’m getting a bit carried away now !!!. 

It’s like stepping into another world 

But wearing real stiletto’s is the best and for me like stepping into another  world.  Black patent stiletto heels look sexy and sophisticated , while red crocodiles in the same style are sexy and seductive.  I have an unusual pair of black sandals with a steel stiletto heel which are naughty and suggestive , while some of my animal designs are slinky and wild. Stiletto heels make my legs look good and make me feel sexy and teamed up with the appropriate clothes – wow – it’s just too much.

High heels of course are also lovely to wear with nothing else at all , just to be totally naked in them.  Walk about like this at home and you will be irresistible  and I can guarantee that your husband or lover would soon pounce on you.  To bring out the dominatrix in you a pair of high leg , high heeled black boots certainly looks the part , and yes I do have such a pair - in black simulated crocodile.

Fashions and styles may change and women’s shoes are always an object of desire, but there are also certain people who have what can be called a real shoe fetish which I think is something in a completely different category to my own desires.    For instance there are men ( and women ) who enjoy being stood on  by a person wearing stiletto heels , others love to lick the shoe or the heel of the wearer and worship then in some way.

Red or Black are the favourites

There are specialist catalogues which cater specifically for these shoe fetishists which feature enormously high heels some adorned with zips and buckles, others just plain but even higher.  Black or red seem to be the most popular colours, although there is an enormous range now available.

If you can’t wear these very high styles in your daily lifestyle ladies , then it’s perfectly in order to invest in a pair or two for photography. Sauntering about at home in them is a thrilling experience and a little bit of sauciness and imagination can really spice up your sex life.  That’s what life is all about at the end of the day – isn’t it ?.

I know of a photographer who has a studio in the south of France that does nothing else except take pictures of women’s feet clad in the most beautiful shoes , using unusual props and compromising positions to make them more interesting.    There are also clubs for people who share this shoe fetish where they can air their views and act out their fantasies.  I think that this is a good idea,  although some participants do take it rather seriously and it’s not  just a game to them.

Shoes also play an important role in the book and film world.  I remember seeing a Spanish film some years ago now called Red High Heels.  I can’t remember all that much about it except for the main theme than ran right through the film where an attractive woman wearing ( yes , you’ve guessed )  red high heels,  went clacking along the pavement to work, passing over the grill of an underground basement whose occupant observed her every day.   I expect there was more on his mind than just her shoes !!

It’s a great turn on !

I suppose that some people may think that I’m talking a load of twaddle or maybe they can’t understand what it’s all about , but I wouldn’t mind betting that the majority of men think differently and know exactly what I’m saying. 

Ask almost any man and if they are honest they will say that a nice looking stiletto heeled shoe makes a woman look more sexy , is a great turn on and arouses the natural instinct in them.   As the dictionary says –  a fetish object is something abnormally stimulating or attracting sexual desire – and I would have to agree with that 100%.

Sex for shoes

The young lady in a “ Sex for Shoes “ national newspaper feature recently would know exactly what I am talking about.  She sleeps with men for shoes and apparently got the idea while on holiday in Belgium of all places.  She was window shopping one day gazing at a shop full of beautiful shoes when some rich foreign hunk came up behind her and told her that he would buy her the sexy red sling backs she was drooling over if she would have sex with him.    So she did , saying that the sex was nice but she was much more excited afterwards when returning to the shop to buy the shoes.  She could hardly wait and actually said that she was “gagging “ for them.

After this first encounter she became totally hooked on the idea of taking a man to bed for sex in return for a good pair of stilettos and she now apparently has thirty pairs that she has acquired this way.

Well as much as I desire lovely shoes I would never go to this extreme and nor I imagine would most women, but there are of course extremists in every walk of life.   I don’t actually condemn this girl for what she is doing , but I think she is playing a very risky game just to satisfy her irresistible urge to have more and more shoes.

It’s nice to have fun like I do, but far better to know where to draw the line and that I think is the real difference between sensible stimulation and big trouble.

Stockings & tights

Many fetish objects that are used for sexual stimulation are often linked to something else, which may also be classed as a fetish object in it’s own right as well.   Stockings and tights, women’s underwear including knickers,  suspender belts and a range of corsetry - and even images of the foot itself - can form a part of the fetish that might have started off with only a more than normal interest in shoes.

Although the items themselves are usually worn by females, men who have this kind of fetish attraction will also collect them ( or images of them ) and some will even go as far as wearing them, even though they are completely heterosexual in every other way.

Often the materials that are used in making the objects - think plastic , rubber , PVC etc - can also form a part of the fetish and some kinds of  submissive or dominant behavior will incorporate the use of any or all of the items I have written about here.     What might initially have begun with just a small collection of shoes could easily swell to the degree where on top of  the overall cost it becomes difficult to find somewhere to keep it all and as well as items of clothing and footwear can include  books and magazines , catalogues, photographs , personal anecdotes and stories and even membership of specialist clubs.

The foot has a deep symbolic power and once shoes were believed to carry the spirits of previous owners. Almost every culture has used the foot as a unit of measurement and many great figures through the ages, including Buddha and Mohammad have left their footprints as a reminder of their earthly presence. 

The troubadours of 18^th century Italy wore long phallic shaped shoes which the church tried to ban (without success ), but it was the tiny Catherine de Medici who first adopted the high heel from which our present day stiletto comes. She obviously wanted to make herself appear a little taller and hopefully more sexy.  It worked then for her and it has worked ever since,  over the last couple of hundred years or so for millions of other women ( and men of course).

Even though my primary interest is in shoes I sometimes find something else that attracts me enough to want to add it to my collection.  A picture maybe , some special piece of underwear perhaps or even a while ago a pair of huge black feather fans and a matching mask that I saw in a shop quite by accident as I was buying a clip for my hair. 

I like the feeling I get when I buy whatever it is that takes my fancy at the time and it certainly adds to the many pleasures of (our) lifestyle, but I do make sure that we never let any single theme take over and become an obsession for us. 

I wrote the first draft of this feature just over three years ago and shortly after reading it Mark decided to keep a look out for suitable illustrations or pictures to go with it.  Within 15 months he had accumulated a huge collection of cuttings , enough to fill more than 40 pages of a 25cm x 38cm album.  

Most of them came from The Sunday Times magazines as well as one of two other specialist Arts listings and it was truly amazing to see just how much of this obviously fetish style illustration is now included in everyday mainstream media and not only by way of direct advertising. I was surprised to see it being used by international names in design and retailing not just in fashion as might be expected, but even for mundane products like cleaning materials and electrical goods.   

  

Our own photographic collection taken over the last fifteen years or so also includes some suitable examples of the genre - although many of these could  only be published in a private work of this kind – and we have included about 40 of them in the album.  See if you can work out which ones are ours ??

Even if you haven’t been able to make up your mind on the question of fetishism it will hopefully have been an interesting way to spend an hour so.  

B.M.