In the nearly three months that we’ve been sheltered inside, I’ve been working from home and sadly attending church services virtually.
I say sadly but honestly, I feel blessed that we can gather at all. The church is like fuel to my soul. I need it as much as I need God in my life.
Thinking of them both, that is work and church, I discovered recently that I need dresses and high heels, too.
That might seem like a trivial thing to most, but this pandemic has not only made me more aware of my mortality, it has been a reminder that, at some line of demarcation, chances are I might never again put on a little black dress and a pair of stilettos.
Well, in my case, pumps. Stilettos and I never mixed well. To this day, I see them as some male invention of revenge.
Until a few days ago, I had no idea how close I was to being right. Until a few days ago, I hadn’t talked to independent filmmaker Adelin Gasana, who in just one hour single-handedly raised my high heel game.
High heels, he told me, were first worn in the 10th century by men as a way to help the Persian cavalry keep their shoes in their stirrups.
Talk about killer heels.
RELATED | Shoe love and lust the highlight of “Shoes: Pleasure and Pain”
Since then, men’s heels have gone through varied cultural meanings symbolizing high social stature, military prowess, refined taste, and, believe it or not, the height of cool.
For many of us women, high heels represent power, confidence, beauty, and, of course, sexiness.
It’s no wonder Cinderella felt transformed when she put on her glass slippers. Shoes are more than an accessory. Shoes have stories of accomplishment, challenge, transformation. And memory.
For Gasana, they proved the perfect subject for his newest documentary “High On Heels,” shot exclusively in Atlanta.
It is as fierce and powerful and sexy as its subject.
In just 45 minutes, the documentary explores the history of high heels, style trends, and women’s relationship with them.
It is told through the eyes of shoe designers, dancers, fashion bloggers, models, doctors and everyday women.
Gasana told me he was drawn to the subject some years ago through conversations he had with female friends and relatives.
“I just kept asking questions and doing a little research,” he said.
When he and his friend and producer Lola Kayode, a local filmmaker, began talking intensely about the topic, the two of them thought a documentary was doable.
“Even though we couldn’t go deep, we felt we could touch on the various aspects,” he said.
Gasana, a 33-year-old native of Rwanda, shot his first documentary in his dorm room at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, just north of where he grew up, but the dream, he said, had been brewing since age 16.
In 2008, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication arts and philosophy and then began his career in both broadcast television and independent films.
His first big feature documentary, “Cuban America,” examines the different ways in which the Cuban Diaspora transformed the Greater Miami region over the past five decades.
RELATED | Getting older and loving it. How about you?
Two years ago, after so many conversations with women about their shoes, high heels captured his imagination.
By highlighting the perspective of working women whose day-to-day lives are impacted by wearing them, Gasana wanted to educate women and men about the symbolism of heels.
To be sure, “High On Heels” isn’t just about fashion. It also delves into the potential ill effects of wearing high heels.
Think hammertoes, bunions, Achilles tendinitis, and the less familiar neuromas or pinched nerves.
All high heels, obviously, aren’t created equal. When you’re wearing a stiletto, you’re just putting pressure on the ball of the foot and the skinny little peg on the heel, doctors explained. Wearing a wedge is a lot healthier because the pitch — the angle of the shoe — is much lower.
“High On Heels” isn’t the first documentary to explore women’s shoes, so I asked Gasana what makes his different.
RELATED | In a fashion rut in COVID-19 isolation? Here’s how to break it
“Today, heels have come to represent many things for many women, like beauty, sexuality, sophistication, empowerment, maturity, style, and professionalism,” he said. “In addition to exploring those dynamics, we examine the subtleties both men and women take for granted. We dive into both the historical significance of the high-heeled shoe and the health factors that come with wearing them. We reintroduced news shows on the topic, went into a popular Atlanta shoe shop, and a modeling school where girls are taught how to walk in heels. Our goal was to combine all the different, nuanced layers.”
From concept to completion, it took a little over a year to finish the documentary. It premiered at the Miami Fashion Film Festival in January with plans to launch here in April.
"2020 was supposed to be the big rollout, but then COVID-19 happened," he said. "So, instead of waiting, we decided to release it on YouTube at the end of April."
If all goes as planned, the film will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video June 15.
Both digital platforms allow the film to reach more diverse audiences in this moment of social distancing and home quarantining, Gasana said. YouTube reaches a younger, mobile-friendly demographic of viewers who are interested in this sultry topic. Amazon reaches a family-friendly, niche audience of documentary lovers who want not only to be entertained but to be informed.
Either way, the film will appeal to any woman, or man for that matter, who owns more than a few pairs.
If shoes are your weakness, you might want to take a pass. “High On Heels” will no doubt inspire the impulse to shop.
Just don’t blame me.
Find Gracie on Facebook (www.facebook.com/graciestaplesajc/) and Twitter (@GStaples_AJC) or email her at gstaples@ajc.com.
About the Author
