If you love shoes or contemporary art in general, check out this final installment in my photo review series, Killer Heels, the Art of the High Heeled Shoe Exhibit from the Palm Springs Contemporary Art Museum, on loan from the Brooklyn Museum through today, December 13.  They’re a fun and funky blend of art, history and fashion.  You can see Part One here and Part Two here.  (If you haven’t seen them, you don’t want to miss Lady Gaga’s fabulous boots!)

This first pair by Christian Louboutin, “explored fetishism by combining the stiletto with a ballerina’s pointe shoe, both of which force the foot into an artificial and constricted shape.”  Burlesque dancers from the Crazy Horse in Paris wore the shoes for a series of photographs made with film director David Lynch.

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, Fetish Ballet, 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Christian Louboutin in 2012

ZUZANA SERBAK, Czech, Heel, 2011, Carbon fiber, goat leather, Courtesy of Zuzana Nemeth Serbakova

PRADA, Italian Wedge Sandals in Rosso, Bianco and Nero Leather, Spring/Summer 2012, Courtesy of Prada USA Corp.

PRADA, Italian, Fuoco Silk and Lizard Platform, Spring/Summer, 2013, Courtesy of Prada USA Corp.

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN for MANISH MALHOTRA, French, Platform, 2013, Courtesy of Christian Louboutin

ROGER VIVIER, French, Rose N’ Roll, Fall 2012, Purple satin, Courtesy of Roger Vivier,

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, British, Lace-up Peep Toe Boots, Spring/Summer 2013, Patent Leather, Swarovski crystals, Courtesy of Alexander McQueen

ATALANTA WELLER, British, The Big Shoes, 2008, Poplar wood, matte/gloss paint, Courtesy of Atalanta Weller

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, French, Mille-Pattes Stilettos, Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 1993, Leather, Courtesy Maison Jean Paul Gaultier

And, painfully, this last shoe was for women in ancient China, where girls as young as five years old had their feet bound by pushing the four smallest toes under the ball of the foot, leaving the big toe protruding.  The front of the foot and heel were forced together and bound, effectively breaking the arch.  Tiny feet were highly prized by men and women in that culture as “markers of refinement, marriageability and sensuality.  Women took pride in hand-making delicate slippers such as these.”

Thankfully, the practice was finally outlawed in 1912.

UNKNOWN DESIGNER, Chinese, Shoes for Women’s Bound Feet, 19th Century, Qing Dynasty, Embroidered satin-weave silk, thread, metal, wood, textile, paper, ribbon, Brooklyn Museum Collection