Amelia's high heels

Amelia with a pair of heels

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

Amelia Bell of Cornelius, North Carolina wears heels all the time even if she cleans her house. 

Amelia, a Bisdak (Bisayang dako or Visayan grown) like me, was born in Medellin town, northern Cebu which is part of the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines.

I find that fact interesting because I always wear flat shoes. But Amelia was trained to wear heels as part of a personality development subject in a secretarial course she took in the Philippines back in the days.

Since then she's been using heels and is uncomfortable not using one. “I love it,” Amelia said.  She wears it in malls, church or any gathering for that matter. Only when she's in the gym does she wear flat shoes. 

Amelia learned how to wear heels from her mother Charlita Booc who always taught her about the importance of grooming and wearing heels. 

Amelia, who's  in the business of beauty, said aside from eyebrow essentials, wearing heels would enhance her natural beauty. Back in the Philippines, I see many women who wear heels particularly sales girls.

Amelia Bell wearing one of her heels 

Appearance
I learned that those working ladies in Makati City wear rubber shoes going to the office and change heels once they report for work. 

I remember a friend of mind in fact who wants to be fashionable that she bought a new high shoe and ended up limping for the whole week after she figured in an accident while walking the streets.

A little throwback; shoes with heels were mass-produced in the 1920s. Women's hemlines were higher, so their shoes' appearance was much more important to them. Heels taller than two inches were all the rage throughout the decade.

According to Wikipedia many women, England's "Bloody Mary" (Queen Mary I) included, have worn high heels for the sense of power they provide to the wearer.

That same Wikipedia article states that the construction of high-heeled shoes forces changes in the posture of the wearer that result in a sexy, undulating walk. 

Unaccustomed
Heels cause the wearer's legs to appear longer and create a myriad of illusions about the feminine form that appeal to both sexes. But Amelia told me that she noticed something on her feet after so many years of wearing heels.

“I don’t have the best looking feet,” she said. When Amelia said this I wanted to look at her feet but she wore fashionable winter boots that had high heels.

She did show her foot by removing her boots and socks- there I saw what she meant. There was a small deformity but other than that her feet looked cute, I think.

Women generally love high heeled shoes. It doesn't matter what their doctors say about the damage heels inflict on their feet. For formal occasions, a woman will always wear high heeled shoes because it makes her feel sexier. 

But not all women agree on what should qualify as high heeled shoes. People who are unaccustomed to wearing high heeled shoes may feel that a two or three inch heel is plenty high. 

Posture
With a heel of this height, walking and standing are overly painful.  At the same time, women experience some aesthetic benefits of wearing high heeled shoes. 

Some women will buy a pair of heels that are four inches or taller for special occasions.  Because these shoes are so uncomfortable, women rarely wear them for long. 

The main exceptions are people who are in the entertainment industry and they have to endure wearing them for long periods I guess. 

One reasons also why women like to wear high heeled shoes is because they like to make themselves taller like Amelia, who's petite. 

Shorter women like to wear high heeled shoes to stand as tall as everyone else. The taller heels make the legs look longer. The length also makes legs look supple and sensuous.

Again, based on Wikipedia and all sorts of women and fashion's magazines I read, there are other ways that high heeled shoes make a woman's body more appealing. They change the whole posture a woman displays. 

While wearing high heeled shoes, a woman's curves are more pronounced because of the positions of her derriere and chest. Feeling sexy means women become more confident. 

Amelia said she loves wearing heels because she loves the feel of wearing them and I respect her for that. That is the mark of a woman who's unafraid to feel and act beautiful.

(The blogger/author is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. 

You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063. )