Jonathan Velardi

11.2.15

Foot Werk

You don’t need Google to tell you anything goes on the internet. Add a hashtag to that anything and you find yourself sympathising with a global online community hungry for expression in as few and witty characters as possible. So to the recent buzz this week that has been reported by the likes of Dazed & Confused, i-D and PAPER Magazine on the curious hashtag that is #heelconcept. Punch this meme into Instagram and behold a collection of arched feet, precariously balancing atop resolutely lo-fi objects from the sublime to the ridiculous to create the illusion of a high heel shoe.

As DIY footwear floods our Instagram feeds, we ask the meme’s creator about #HeelConcept: http://t.co/nAflSa2nUx pic.twitter.com/yev2vzrZ84
— i-D (@i_D) February 11, 2015

First recorded by the grammer @m.sty in December of last year, who stood on a bronze figure performing autofellatio against the backdrop of a cutting mat, the hashtag has since inspired hundreds of avant-garde prototypes as a means of alternative self-portraiture.

Ladies, step aside. The men are coming up with their own #heelconcept [SUB REQ.]: http://t.co/00jNCTbAKQ pic.twitter.com/i5q6VUBbB5
— WWD (@wwd) February 9, 2015

High fashion, contemporary art and a generous helping of irony at its most fabulous come together in an amalgamation of DIY beauty and anti-aesthetic style, which has left trend forecasters head over heels. Perhaps because on closer inspection #heelconcept has been attracting both sexes with fashion journal WWD headlining ‘Ladies step aside: The men are coming up with their own #heelconcept’, with their respective hairy limbs en pointe, including that of my own. Having come across the phenomenon on my feed last week I couldn't resist raiding the kitchen cupboards to channel the lexicon of none other than pop culture supreme Mr Warhol, by putting my toes to werk.