Editor Reviews:

Product Description:

Stiletto spells sex. Nothing else creates an erotically taut, arched foot or an overall come-hither silhouette quite like the stiletto heel.This exquisite book uncovers the compelling lure of the needle heel.

A highly charged symbol, the stiletto suggests a multitude of contradictions - it can be elegant, vulgar, submissive, aggressive, subversive, conventional. The stiletto is phallic but supremely female, it makes the wearer at once vulnerable and in control. Six decades have seen the stiletto in vogue around the world with an ever-changing, kaleidoscopic clientele of classic ladies, Hollywood stars, fetishists, punks, princesses, power- dressers, cross-dressers, A-list celebrities, and the girl next door. For the first time, Stiletto attempts to uncover the compelling lure of the needle heel.

Caroline Cox presents the various incarnations of the stiletto since its invention as a fantasy shoe brought to life by the flair and skill of shoemakers Vivier, Perugia, Ferragamo, and Jourdan in the early 1950s. Assertively modern, stilettos released women from the utilitarian wartime fashion of the 1940s, offering streamlined sophistication and glamour to women the world over. As the decade progressed the heel became saucier and higher, worn by starlets like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. By the end of the 1950s the heel was being worn by “bad girls” and had become a weapon of female power. The 1970s took the stiletto’s associations with sex and death and turned it into a fetish object, eulogized by artists Allen Jones and Eric Stanton. 1980s power dressers brought the stiletto back into the fashion arena, and today heels designed by Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, and Gina are the badge of celebrity status and fashion savvy.

This exciting new book by an international fashion authority presents the story of the stiletto for the first time, illustrated with new and vintage photography to explore the stiletto’s long relationship with sex, power femininity, fashion, and fetishism.

Rating : - brave new heels
this is primarily a historical narrative running from WW2 to the present - using fashion, and stiletto heels in particular, as a structuring element.. the various, and often conflicting, power complexities embodied and represented by stiletto heels are well illustrated with frequent quotes and cultural references, but (surprisingly to me) these were not the focus of the book. this is not a book about cultural paradox

i really enjoyed it! being born in the 1975, i now have an expanded sense of the cultural liberation experienced after the survival-centric shadow of world war 2 - the new delight of living for the pleasure of life - glamorous hair, bright colors, vespas, espresso, butter.. and stiletto heels. from here, the narrative traces the various responses to, and co-option of, the technology-enabled spiked heel. metaphorical for the period overall.. maybe

there are lots of great pictures and illustrations - and the large format book is an aesthetic pleasure overall. just 4 years after publishing (2004 -> 2008), the "now" perspective is fairly dated, both fashion and culture-wise. i found this things-are-changing-quickly (!) discovery informing and exciting. and again, this is primarily a historical narrative - not an up-to-the-minute cultural dialogue

with more compelling analysis, more "aha" insights, etc - i would have given this book 5 stars. as it is, it's a light and interesting read - easily enjoyable in one or two sittings