Scary Beautiful.

Scary Beautiful is part of Leanie Van Der Vyver's Thesis 'Playing God'.

The Introduction ,  available on her website 'http://cargocollective.com/Leanie'

Just being human is not good enough anymore nor has it ever been. What is very clear is that people are not satisfied with what they were naturally born with. Neither the prehistoric cave dweller nor modern man has ever considered the human body aesthetically satisfactory. It is human nature to want to be more than what we are, and from the beginning of time we have gone to extreme measures to express on the outside how we desire to be perceived. On the surface, we are physically turning into ideal dream versions of ourselves. Being born a certain way is no longer a life sentence. We can choose exactly who we want to be. What are the possibilities of this new God-like control we have over our bodies?

Right now you can truly become more than just yourself, more than human. It’s almost as if we have shifted from reality into fantasy. The sky is the limit when it comes to controlling our own image. Being online is considered a trusted version of yourself. We are behaving as if we have robotic extensions and we can now generate body parts and also have access to the technology to obtain super powers. We now have complete power over our own image and abilities. What is currently being done and where might these God-like powers potentially lead?

Leanie looked to challenge the modern day beauty ideals by inflicting an unexpected beauty standard. The way heels are made means the wearer becomes immobile, having to walk slower and in smaller strides/ more steps. The posture has to changed so the heels are the 'easy' to walk in, the way this is done is by keeping the shoulders back and chin up, the back is arched making the backside stick out and the hips swing more when walking. Physically the legs appear longer which is deemed as attractive in modern western society.She has really exaggerated the way the body looks and changes whilst wearing ordinary heels so much so that it looks unnatural and distorted, which begs the question , is this how other cultures think when they see people in western society wearing this type of fashion? Or Historically how would people from past centuries view the modern day take on footwear? High heels have been in and out of fashion since the Second World War however they were never predominant till the 1980/90's more so high heels date back to Medieval Europeons who wore wooden sole pattern shoes over their normal shoes, their purpose was to elevate the wearer above mud and dirt ( as well as human and animal waste) in the street. They all were used by Persian horse riders in the Near East who wore them because they helped the rider's foot hold in the stirrups better. So the practicality of the high heel shoe has lost all its intents and purpose and are now all but necessary in modern day purely for aesthetical value. So here's to assuming that someone not from this century ( or even last century ) react the same way that I did to watching 'scary beautiful'?  for its eye-twitching display of watching the model awkwardly walk across the room in very painfully looking footwear and wondering just why would you ever wear them to women in modern day society wearing high heels? 

Side note: high-fashion  websites see a low heel as a shoe less than 2.5 inches , a mid-heel between 2.5 and 3.5 inches and a high heel as anything over 3.5 inches. Whilst the high street see a high heel as ranging from 2-5 inches or more.