High Heels - Fashion, Feminity and Seduction - Beau Livre

Lavishly illustrated with a vivid selection of images from key contemporary photographers such as Guy Bourdin, Juergen Teller, Marilyn Minter, Tim Walker, David LaChapelle, Mites Aldridge and Robert Mapplethorpe, this book explores the confluence of art, fashion and fetish in the cuit of high heels stalking down fashion show runways and atong city streets everywhere. Hundreds of compelling and extremely frank photographs are punctuated by essays and, most notably, interviews with two deities of shoe design, Manolo Blahnik and Nicholas Kirkwood.
The introductory text by Ivan Vartanian explores the image of the fetishized high heel as a vehicle for discussing fetishes within photography in general. Among the other topics explored are ideas of aesthetics and the industry forces behind high heel design; the recent technological developments responsible for shoes' creatively extreme forms; and high heels, gender and representation in film. High Heels is a mixture of whimsy, allure and luxury, and a visual odyssey through ideas of beauty, fetish and seduction.