General Question

LuckyGuy's avatar

Why do so many shoe and clothes models appear to be "pigeon toed"?

Asked by LuckyGuy (43880points) May 12th, 2016

If you are not familiar with the term it means the toes of their feet point inward rather than straight or outward. Example)

Is that supposed to be more attractive or feminine?
Back in my day that meant you needed a leg brace – or two.
I don’t get it.

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19 Answers

Seek's avatar

It’s supposed to look “cute”. A few years back crossed ankles was all the rage.

Seek's avatar

The pigeon toe thing looks way better on the Lolita girls than on the Queen of the Thigh Gap.

Another adorable loli

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

I also think that particular posture is supposed to emphasize the currently popular “thigh gap.” If your heels aren’t touching, your pelvis is freer to rotate backward, making your hips appear wider and your legs appear slimmer. Large hips and slim legs are en vogue right now.

Mariah's avatar

I know that in Japanese culture it is considered “ladylike” to walk this way, originating from kimonos that could come open if you didn’t walk a little pigeon-toed. As far as I know, no other culture has that good of an excuse for this, lol.

Why’s it called pigeon-toed anyway? Pigeons don’t pull this shit.

ibstubro's avatar

Perhaps they’re afraid someone will miss their $3,785 Jimmy Choo’s.

Laugh if you want, but I wouldn’s be surprised if the origin of the trend was emulating fashion photo shoots meant to highlight the product more than the model.

Seek's avatar

@ibstubroThese things are ugly as hell.

Pandora's avatar

@Seek I agree. And only Lady Gaga enjoys them.

ibstubro's avatar

I saw those lobster claw things, @Seek. What a hoot. ”LOOK AT—[Kardashian] ME!”—

Cruiser's avatar

My guess is they do that to simply show off more of the shoe. Straight on all you see are the toes.

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

Too late to edit my earlier answer, but I just came across this.
“So some women have taken to internally rotating their legs in order to make the gap between their thighs seems larger. This illusion occurs naturally because the front of the thigh – where are most used muscles group the quadriceps are – is usually much flatter than the inside thigh, which can be less used and more prone to storing fat. This internal rotation of the leg begins in the hip joint and continues all the way down the leg and can cause the collapse of the knees inward…”
Source

stanleybmanly's avatar

I never noticed such a trend, and for the photo, would have assumed the woman was told to pose. Now you’ve forced me to pay attention and watch for more examples of another frivolous oddity. And knowing me, I’ll do it. If it turns out to be a genuine trend, I’ll then drive my friends crazy by recruiting them to the “pigeon watch”. What a world!

kritiper's avatar

Another pose technique is to drop a shoulder while raising the hip on the same side of the body.

Coloma's avatar

Being Pigeon toed goes well with wearing crazy shoes, eating like a bird and having the body of one too. lol

Here’s a great run way clip. Cracks me up every time I see it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0eINGyJHz8

Seek's avatar

@Coloma – Yeah, those poor models are very often thrown into shoes that are either too small or too big for their feet, and might not be strapped on correctly. Sadly, once you’ve rolled that ankle it takes a while for it to snap back.

You don’t even want to hear about the bruises I suffered after wearing my friend’s too-big-for-me stiletto boots when we went clubbing one night. A couple of cocktails in and my ankles totally forgot how to ankle.

Dutchess_III's avatar

It draws attention from the top to the bottom, or vise versa.

Coloma's avatar

@Seek Oh man, my high heeled days are so over. I have rolled/sprained, badly, my left ankle like about 7 times in my life, most recently twice in 2 months back in Oct. & again in Dec. The last 3 times in 5 years have been wearing Durango boots or cowboy boots with a blunt, like 2 inch heel and either still tripping or stepping on a rock or uneven dip in the ground. It sucks, I live in ankle failure fear now. lol

jca's avatar

I think if I were the woman in that video, I would have taken the shoes off and completed the walk barefoot!

Dutchess_III's avatar

It never fails to amaze me that in the 60’s and 70’s you could have women mountain climbing and hiking through the Antarctic in high heels! I think they finally started getting their shit together starting in the 80’s.

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