This article appeared in the Albany Times-Union on April 11, 2000. The photos are my own.
Platform shoes step back into high style for today's young women
A walk on the high side
By Kristi L. Gustafson
Staff Writer
When Ashlee Danford, 16, makes her way through the halls of Averill Park High School, she's eye-to-eye with about half of her fellow students, standing "tall'' at 5 feet 5 inches. But when she returns home to play with her Shih Tzu, Rascal, she shrinks down to 4 feet 11 inches.
Danford has joined the ranks of young women who are wearing platform shoes. From the malls to the office to the dance floors on Friday and Saturday nights, many women are making the '70s-era stompers the shoe of choice.
Shannon Skelly, 26, of Schenectady even wears platform sneakers - she has three pairs.
"I hate wearing flat shoes,'' said Skelly. "They're not only yucky and plain, but uncomfortable.''
Skelly owns 75 pairs of shoes most of them platforms and only one pair of flats.
The flats are a requirement for Skelly's culinary studies at Schenectady County Community College. For safety reasons she's not allowed in the school's kitchen in her platforms.
"As soon as I get out of school, I kick them off,'' said Skelly. "There's no way I'm wearing them in public.''
Technically, the platform shoe falls into two categories the wedgie, where the entire bottom is one chunky piece, and the true platform, where the sole and heel are separate.
Skelly has mastered the balancing act of platforms and only feels comfortable in the chunky sole. When she's cooking away from school, she wears her platform shoes.
"I'll be running around in my chef's apron and hat cooking dinner for a big group of family and friends and everyone always makes fun of me,'' said Skelly. "They think it's funny that I manage not to slip or trip when I'm trying to do so many things at once.''
Skelly goes from 5 feet 3 inches to what she calls a more desirable height in her platforms.
"People don't realize I'm short until I have to take my shoes off at someone's house,'' she said. "At least one person always comments on how I shrank.''
Danford echos Skelly. "I'm not even at the 5-foot mark, but no one really notices because my shoes make me 5-4 to 5-5 every day,'' she said. "That's good, though, because even though I'm used to my height, I want to be taller.''
Platform shoes, which were popular in the East for centuries, were introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Known as chopines, the shoes had soles up to 2 feet high. Customarily, two servants would support a woman wearing these shoes, reinforcing the image of a woman as frail and dependent.
Today, seeing men in platforms is uncommon, but it was popular in Europe in the 17th century. King Louis XIV was unhappy with his height and began a movement to platform shoes among men. Some had soles as high as 5 inches and were decorated with battle scenes.
The ancient Romans wore platform shoes to keep their feet out of the mud and water. The style was revived in the 1930s, the '70s and again in the '90s in the United States, but strictly for fashion.
Although Danford likes that the shoes make her taller, fashion is the driving force behind her choice in footwear.
"I've always been in fashion,'' said Danford. "My mom bought me my first pair when I was 11 and I've worn nothing but platforms since.''
Although Danford rarely leaves her house without at least a 3-inch stacked heel, she practiced walking before going in public.
"I walked around the house for about a week before wearing them out,'' she said. "I was wobbly and uncomfortable at first.''
Danford is now as comfortable in her platforms as most people are in cross trainers.
"I've only fallen once,'' she said with a sheepish grin. "But it doesn't count because no one saw it happen.''
When Danford gets behind the wheel she wears one of her lower platforms and always chooses a pair whose entire sole is the same height.
"Sometimes I have a hard time feeling how hard I'm pressing the break or the gas.'' she said. "It's alsohard to quickly switch my foot from one pedal to the other if my shoes are too tall.''
Platforms have been a cause for arrest in Tokyo, where many traffic accidents are blamed on women's inability to properly sense the pedals and to react quickly while driving.
Skelly used to find driving difficult and would drive in one bare foot, but no longer feels the difference.
Platform shoes can be just as tough for pedestrians, reducing some women to lying sprawled on the sidewalk. Still, fashion reigns supreme and women keep wearing the high-risk shoes.
And they are slightly safer and more comfortable than skinny-heeled stilettos.
"Platforms can cause back, hip and knee pain. It is usually short-term,'' said chiropractor Dr. Michael Dudick, "but the foot damage that comes along with stilettos is not so much a factor with platform shoes.''
Dudick said the height of the sole should be a factor in choosing to wear platforms. He's seen girls as young as 15 in shoes stacked to what he called a comical level.
"When a young girl is walking around looking like Herman Munster, she runs the risk of twisting, or even spraining her ankle, and that's probably the biggest problem associated with the shoes,'' he said. "For a singular event, they're fine, but I strongly discourage women from wearing them on a regular basis.''
According to the Bad Fads Museum, platforms are often referred to as "the Elevated Orthopedic Nightmare.'' In the 1960s, the shoes were only one or two inches high but grew in height and variety until hospital emergency rooms were routinely treating people for twisted or broken ankles.
The media have always helped to both dictate and rule fashion. Sally Struthers wore platforms on the popular '70s sitcom "All in the Family.'' Struthers wore the shoes to shorten the height gap between her and co-star Rob Reiner, but had to practice walking in them before wearing them on the air, according to Barbara Williams, curator at The Shoe Museum of the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine in Philadelphia.
The most recent addition to the museum is a pair of 6-inch blue satin platform sandals worn by Struthers, as Gloria, on the show.
Platform shoes are one of the few fashion trends that have caught on with girls as young as 12 to women in their late 30s, according to John Hugo, assistant manager at DSW Shoe Warehouse in Crossgates Mall. DSW is selling more platforms than ever, about 20 to 30 pairs a day.
"I'm addicted to platforms,'' said Skelly. "If I have money to spend, the shoe store is the first place I go.''
