Posted by Plastique (216.166.228.231) on August 11, 2003 at 10:02:24:
In Reply to: What Crazy Type Would Do This? posted by The4Blob (12.108.99.30) on August 08, 2003 at 09:27:32:
I would say it depends. When a new style is still unusual/extreme, the early-adopters tend to be extreme as well, so yes they would probably be 3's in this case.
However, once a style like this becomes more mainstream, all types will do it. Witness the explosion (pun intended) of breast implants over the past decade or so - it is now pretty common and widely accepted by the younger generation. Similar dynamic is evident with other forms of body-modification, like belly-button piercings (also tongue, genital, etc.), tattoos, botox, etc. - some of these are actually mainstream now, almost like ear-piercing at this point. Stilletto and high-heeled shoes are quite common and all types wear them, so if these shoes morph further than I personally would not be surprised if the toe-shortening thing caught on, although I would guess it would be done also so that women could modify their feet to conform to whatever the 'sexy feet' image is. The Chinese were doing it thousands of years ago, and evolution has been doing it ever since sexual reproduction started, so my guess is that it is liable to continue: whatever arbitrary physical characteristics are considered appealing (or are more successful) in attracting a mate will be selected for; surgery and technology and fashion and media just speed this cycle up tremendously.