Designboom recently featured the wire wonders of polyscene, a sculptor of whimsical works, from Edinburgh, Scotland. Among her creations, these ephemeral wire high heels. I love the imposition of the structure of the frame onto the delicate, earthy bare feet. The wire sculpture forms a scaffolding on the feet, which to me, conveys the ways that women force their feet into unnatural positions with footwear, and how this connotes transformation, restraint, and certain forms of gendered power.
Of course, maybe Polly Verity is just a woman who loves shoes. Maybe she woke up one day and said, you know, I’m tired of sculpting deranged unicorn heads. Let’s sculpt some sexy wire heels.
Man, you would have to have impeccable balance to model these shoes. Can you imagine if you accidentally squished them? “Ohh, shit…sorry dude.”
