Three Models Cut From Alexander McQueen Show After Refusing To Wear Armadillo Shoes

Although they were paraded down the runway and later spotted on the likes of Daphne Guinness and Lady Gaga, Alexander McQueen's ten-inch-tall, other-worldly stilettos couldn't find their way onto the feet of some of the fashion set. Grazia Daily reports that models Abbey Lee Kershaw, Natasha Poly and Sasha Pivovarova refused to wear the precarious pairs and were therefore cut from the designer's show.

Kershaw knows firsthand just how dangerous McQueen's fashion can be. She immediately fainted after walking in his Spring 2009 show, reportedly due to the super-tight corset she was squeezed into.

An eyewitness recounted, "When she was coming to the end [of the runway], back near the [entrance] ramp, I could tell she was having difficulties, because her steps were getting shorter and shorter, they were more like baby steps. I was reading her face and I could see 'struggle' all over it and I was thinking, 'She's not going to make it.'"

The Wall Street Journal said of that collection:

"Many looks were so body-hugging that models' bones protruded through the clothes awkwardly, causing some discussion in the audience. Skin-tight sheath dresses of fairy light fabrics, jackets and suits in a print like wood grain, and several white dresses embroidered with a skull across the upper torso."

It might be time for McQueen to...er, loosen up a bit. Or at least to make matching helmets and knee-pads.

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Comments

[Southrnbelle]

06:25 PM on 02/11/2010

Ridiculous!!!

[Trapster]

10:08 PM on 01/23/2010

Crab claws.

[JoTy79]

07:31 PM on 01/21/2010

haha ewe! "shudder" wth? It's time to get "back to basics" lol.

[roseau]

10:58 AM on 01/05/2010

Those shoes are perversely reminiscent of the half-moon shape created by chinese foot-binding. Is he deliberately pushing a button about how far fashion can go in making women torture, even maim themselves? Gross. Gross. Gross.
But they do look cool.

[taquinas]

10:27 AM on 12/28/2009

WHY?

[Vinca]

06:57 AM on 12/28/2009

Those shoes are both ugly and dangerous. I don't blame those models for refusing to wear them.

[PoliticalJunkie65]

02:51 PM on 12/27/2009

Suri Cruise will be wearing them next.

[thenakedlens]

10:22 AM on 12/27/2009

What is the guy into torturing women?

[GayGrandpa]

03:53 AM on 12/26/2009

Indeed there should be solidarity - one for all and all for one. None should have participated! The idea that anything or everything for fashion is insane! It is time to reveal the most tantalizing attire - backbone! Pull together ladies or the industry will pull you apart like so many body parts after the passing of Khan.

[mlaiuppa]

03:38 AM on 12/26/2009

I don't blame the models.

Those shoes look like the equivalent of very clumsy toe shoes. Dancers aren't allowed to dance on pointe until they develop the muscles to handle the strain on their body and develop the balance not to topple.

Those shoes are broken bones waiting to happen. If I depended on my body, especially my legs, for my living, I certainly wouldn't jeopardize it wearing a pair of shoes like that. A really bad twist or break and your career is over.

Oh, and they're butT ugly.

[Kate Walsh]

04:06 AM on 12/26/2009

These shoes are not pointe shoes, the platform is just extremely high. Still, they are dangerous. I wouldn't walk in them unless I had someone walking behind me to catch me as I fell.

[mlaiuppa]

10:42 PM on 12/26/2009

No, they're not.

But if you look at the shape of the shoe and compare it to the human foot, inside the foot is pretty much on pointe.

And the base of the front of the shoe is almost as small as a pointe shoe.

I still maintain they are a balance danger and potential physical threat to broken bones, torn ligaments, etc. The models are right to refuse to wear a product that is likely to do them potential and possibly permanent harm.

[Kathleen Shimp]

10:49 PM on 01/09/2010

Ever seen the arched "ballet" shoes/boots worn by some bondage enthusiasts? These are basically a high fashion version of those, and yes, the foot is en pointe in them. Of course, in the case of those other shoes, they are not meant to be walked in as these are.

[Suntio]

12:18 PM on 12/24/2009

I wish the other models that were there would have stepped up and refused to wear those stupid shoes, too, thus forcing the guy to give them better shoes or not have a show. Now THAT would have sent a message.

[Melissa]

04:40 PM on 12/27/2009

Good for the models. Why should they risk falling and breaking bones wearing the ugliest shoes I think I have ever seen?

[NevaforLeadership]

09:32 AM on 12/24/2009

Thank you for publishing the names of these forward-thinking, sensible models.

It should have been Alexander McQueen who was cut from the show: in other words, no show, until he gets rid of these ridiculous, dangerous and outrageously ugly shoes.

Actually there was a great opportunity for him to show them. He could have flashed them on his own feet as he took his bow -- dare we hope, his last bow.

[poliscibabe]

10:37 PM on 12/23/2009

Clearly, this designer hates women. That is the only explanation for his designs.

[TXfemmom]

09:07 PM on 12/23/2009

Those models could end their careers with an injury by wearing those shoes.

[Mitzy]

08:22 PM on 12/23/2009

Pair these with a rubber hobble skirt and a ball gag and you've got McQueen's tired old cliche of fetish chic. Gautier did it long ago and did it better. Alexander, you've got nothing.

[BlueZoo]

12:54 PM on 12/25/2009

I could not agree more!