American actress had removed her heels at the Cannes film festival where it is mandatory for women to wear them.
As the 71st annual Cannes film festival comes to an end, the enduring image should be one of Twilight fame Kristen Stewart removing her heels on the red carpet.
And for me, she just became taller.
If she wasn’t allowed to enter because of that act, then her reply would be “Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?” With that, she shut up the fine people of high society who enjoy seeing a woman in discomfort.
Actually, this wasn’t the first time. The ‘Heelhate’ started in 2015 when 50 women were denied access to the red carpet at the premier of Cate Blanchett’s new film Carol when they went heelless. In solidarity with that event, women across the world tweeted pictures of shoes they found comfort in. In 2016, Julia Roberts went barefoot and Stewart wore flats.
Cannes is the film festival where the work of great free thinking artistes across the world is appreciated. But why are such rigid rules imposed on them these free spirits?
It’s a cliché to say that the fashion industry is brutal to women. Wardrobes and accessories are designed to please men and the male-gaze. The higher the heel, more the male gaze and sex appeal. High heels promote body shaming by forcing shorter women to feel the need to wear them.
In India, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Jaz Dhami’s plagiarised song ‘High heels’ only bolsters the argument about male gaze.
Jaz Dhami: Lakk te digda jaawe tera hai ni kasoor sara uchee addiyaan da (The guy is falling at your waist, all because you wore high heels).
YoYo Honey Singh: Pehli baat to ye jo tu tick tock chalti hai, mana ye sari teri high heels ki galti hai (You walk making the tick-tock sound because you are wearing those high heels)
But there are enough women from Marlyn Monroe to Salma Hayek who have equated high heels with success. Hayek famously said once: “If it wasn’t because of my high heels, I would still be in Coatzacoalcos with 10 children.”
Recently, when I went to a wedding in Fazilka the southwestern corner of Punjab, I could see all the women wearing high heels. None of the weddings in Punjab are complete without dancing to loud music. Unlike the Punjabi jutti, doing bhangra/gidda is really challenging with heels. But women wore it because weddings are also match-making events and heels can do the networking.
But when the dancing began, all the Punjabi women became Kristen Stewarts. They remove their heels and rushed to the dance floor. The dance floor would be empty at Punjabi weddings if only women with high heels were allowed to dance.
I ask the question again. What about the women who do not like to be surrounded with that ‘male-gaze’ 24×7? As Beyonce would say it, “Perfection is the disease of a nation”. Cannes too is plagued by such rules. Why can’t comfort be sexy? Once the rulebooks are torn, we could have the Jimmy Choo comfort range.