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Fashionistas compete in inaugural Stiletto Run 100-metre dash offers chance to flaunt footwear prowess 

Misty Harris, CanWest News ServicePublished: Wednesday, February 22, 2006

The Winter Olympics may be in Italy, but the women's Olympics are in the Netherlands. On March 9, Amsterdam will play host to 150 hot-footed fashionistas for Glamour magazine's inaugural Stiletto Run. Chasing a $13,635 ($10,000 euros) prize, participants will complete the 100-metre dash while wearing Henckel-sharp heels no less than seven centimetres high and no more than 1.5 centimetres wide.

The bizarre race is just the latest in a string of public events designed for stiletto-shod women to flaunt their footwear prowess.

"There's a certain knowledge hierarchy for women who can function in stilettos," says Rebecca Sullivan, associate professor of communications and culture at the University of Calgary.

"It's a hard-won skill -- something you have to work at."

Although the past decade saw stilettos enjoy enormous success, the shoe has recently waned in popularity.

The market research firm NPD Group reports sales of stilettos were up only 15.8 per cent in 2005 compared to 206.8 per cent the previous year.

Most consumers, it seems, are no longer willing to suffer for their shoes.

A November survey by the American Podiatric Medical Association found 35 per cent of women feel comfort trumps style when buying footwear, up from just 18 per cent in a previous survey.

But the more women who wave the white flag at the masochistic stiletto, the greater prestige awarded to those who survive its terrors. Think of it as footwear Darwinism.

"Taking these unhealthy and occasionally downright dangerous fashions and turning them inside-out to make them a power symbol is quite unique," says Sullivan.

"It's this idea of women taking ownership of (adversity). It's not simply a victimization or consumption thing, or a women-as-sex-objects thing. It's a talent. It should be an Olympic sport: walking to work in stilettos."

A heel measuring about eight centimetres -- a modest rise by stiletto standards -- is said to put seven times more pressure on the forefoot than flat shoes.

Consequently, the skyscraper heel has been blamed for everything from ankle sprains to plantar fasciitis.

"That beauty is pain is the bigger story," says Mary Alice Stephenson, celebrity stylist and fashion commentator.

"I've heard of people going to extremes to wear stilettos, like shooting Botox in the pad of their foot and actually having surgery to shorten their toes. It's outrageous . . . They're buying into the dream of gaining four inches and losing 20 pounds with a pair of shoes."

Viia Beaumanis, features editor at Fashion magazine, says there is often an element of snobbery involved because of the stiletto's ability to suggest membership in an elite caste.

"It's sort of like how the tan became emblematic (of status)," explains Beaumanis.

"It puts you into a class of people who can afford to mince around in silly shoes all day -- no heavy lifting."

In recent years, an entire cottage industry has sprung up to serve these spiked-heel stalwarts.

Yamuna Foot Fitness, the exercise trend that teaches the art of "stilettos without suffering," has proved an enormous hit with Canadian women over the past year.

In January, U.S. gym chain Crunch introduced "Stiletto Strength" classes in which women exercise in gravity-defying heels.

And for the daring, there's always Glamour's stiletto run, which is still accepting applications (www.glamour.nl/stilettorun).