What do you think of these shoes? They are called Scary Beautiful. Take a look at the video I attached below.

UGLY!

Those are indeed scary, not to mention hideous and horrendously impractical!

Scary indeed. It seems that the project is aimed at highlighting the unrealistic expectations placed on women and men to achieve beauty, as opposed to trying to sell the shoes though as they say, “Scary Beautiful challenges current beauty ideals by inflicting an unexpected new beauty standard”.

It looks like something from “Silent Hill”, yikes O.o!

Costume for a Sci-Fi movie?

Gross.

If anyone is silly enough to buy them and has plans to walk in them for more than two seconds, start a matching fund for the podiatrist (or the orthopedic surgeon).

Contorting ones body in ways it was never meant to be for the sake of “style” is ridiculous.

Freak show!

Ridiculous. The model has nice legs though.

@FutureMemory Way to nail the key part! They are nice.

Who cares about the stupid shoes, anyway? But did you see those crazy bricks a few pages farther on? Those things are amazing.

@CWOTUS I like the legs better than the bricks.

Oh, sure. No doubt. I like ‘em too; they’re fine legs, and so is the rest of her that I can see. But I can see beautiful women anywhere at all on the web. Those bricks, though, I would never see anywhere else, I think. Amazing bricks.

Yeah, right? Bricks, for gosh sakes.

Would someone who’s into kinky stuff like the hobbling effect of those shoes?

The Chinese used to crush women’s feet so they would grow up tiny. Big feet looked ugly to them. The women walked about as well as this woman does in those hugantic shoes.

Did you see the way she exaggerates how difficult it is to walk in the shoes? The shoes are for a sci-fi movie—a dystopia where women are pure ornamentation and men get their jollies by making the sexiest women have the most difficult time doing the simplest things, like walking.

These are mysogynistic shoes, and after the men get their jollies, they probably degrade the women in other ways. And then, depending on how far they want to take the story, they might dispose of the women, as the women of the Arabian nights were disposed of.

I’m not looking it up, but I can’t guess if the main misogynist (i.e., the designer) is male or female, and whether, if male, gay. I’m leaning towards gay male, though. It seems to me that only someone who truly hates women and can think of no earthly use for them would design shoes like this and make a model dress in a skimpy nightshift that barely covers her ass to walk in them.

I would think it not only would cause all kinds of physical problems but they would be painful as well. How the heck would you drive with those. Scary is right when you think how a driver may get her shoes stuck on the gas pedal.
I also see, ingrown toe nails, broken ankles, broken shins, bad lower backs and constant feet cramps and possibly dislocated hips.
If someone wants all of that, all they have to do is wait till they are in their 70’s or so.

Did some orthopedic doctor/surgeon create this to insure his future?

Huh, well, that’s….creative. I appreciate novelty, but this is just too much. Shoes need to be practical.

Well it is a man. René van den Berg. Don’t know if he is gay. He is both an orthpedic shoe designer and an artist. He does work for Lady Gaga, among others. Here is his statement (translated from the Dutch by Google):

“From the beginning of my career I explore in my free work the limits of what is technically feasible. My urge to innovate is great. Materials from the orthopedics put me often to experiment. The shape of an ornament, plant or example the skin of a reptile can all inspire me to make a new pair of shoes.”

Anyone want to bet he isn’t gay?

People, people. Stop taking these shoes seriously. They are not meant to be worn by real people. They are art,

I have enjoyed reading all your thoughts. I agree with all that has been said. Thank you @wundayatta for your research. These shoes are just simply ugly and totally impractical. I don’t understand the philosophy for creating them, except for a good laugh!

Oh, I don’t know. As a design exercise they were pretty interesting. I mean, the way they exaggerate the look of stiletto heels… facing backwards while walking forward, they were somewhat interesting. That, plus the way they brace from the tibia. So they were interesting as a design concept, but certainly “those boots weren’t made for walkin’”.

I’m still kind of in awe of those bricks, though. I’d love to have a pallet or two of those and the energy to play with them in a sandbox. Or maybe use them to make a short retaining wall at the sidewalk edge of my front lawn. Those bricks are cool.

I like these kinds of avant garde design pages, even when the products themselves are not entirely (or even “not at all”) practical. I like seeing how designers think and build.

By the responses given here, I would say the intended message of the work was a success. The shoes are intended to make a statement on the lengths that people will go to for beauty. As a work of art, the shoes are beautiful, in a way. The shoes fail at being remotely practical or beautiful as most define it, but that is really the point. Many people pointed out the impracticality of the shoes, but they failed to understand the commentary- are any high heels really practical? They are beautiful, sure, but when you take away the beauty, they are absolutely ridiculous. When you think about it for a moment, these shoes are really just an ugly hyperbole of your everyday stiletto.

And this is coming from someone who loves fashion and high heels.

@Daisygurl These shoes are just simply ugly and totally impractical. That’s my opinion of the average high heel. I haven’t worn heels since I was a teenager. (I’m 41 now). They are very uncomfortable and I don’t understand how women can wear them day after day. I’m very happy I don’t work in an office where I would be expected to wear heels. ugh! I wouldn’t do it.

Well, this is performance art, not fashion. The idea is that they’re challenging what we have commonly accepted as “beautiful”. Imagine that shoes were originally designed to offer this (very different) type of support while walking. It would change the way we move, and what we define as beautiful or sexy. It’s just supposed to make you react, feel, think.

It’s not like anyone is trying to sell these as actual shoes.

IMO, it can’t get any more BDSM than that. Where’s the leash?

@jonsblond I like what you had to say and I agree with you. I like to wear heels when I am going out to look nice, but to wear them all day long at work is not my idea of fun. I am 43 and now how you feel. There are some really nice low heels that are comfortable to wear but the stilletos….I’d kill myself trying to walk in those all day long! Personally, maybe stilletos are meant for behind close doors (if you ladies know what I mean).
@Espiritus_Corvus You made me laugh! Thank you. I needed to laugh today! I couldn’t agree more with your comment of BDSM. The way she walked looked extremely uncomfortable! Ha Ha thanks for sharing your thoughts.
And thank you everyone for your thoughts. It was fun poking fun of this new shoe and the fashion.