The last women in China with bound feet:
'They thought it would give them a better life'
curation project for RISD 2015 design studio class
all images come from google
"Lotus Feet" refers to the bound feet which is deeply associated with woman in Chinese culture. The practice of foot binding required young girls tightly bind their feet in order to keep the feet in abnormally small size, which displaying the wealth of family by indicating that the women did not need to labor with their feet. From Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom period to Qing Dynasty, foot binding gradually formed a complex "Fashion" system: shoes for bound feet were designed with multiple styles and different materials, just as various as the western shoes industry today. And the unique "aesthetics" of foot binding was formed, too -- women valued their lotus feet and was proud of their tiny size, even though behind the feet there were pain and blood.
This little book mimic the form of fashion catalogues that we use today, introducing multiple styles of shoes for bound feet and comparing them to the modern shoes styles. A movable "model" page is also provided in this catalogue to suit every shoes on. Fashionable, elegant, adorable...there are tons of praises could be used to describe these crafted shoes, even though......
However, once the exquisite shoes are taken off......
