A friend pointed me toward last Saturday’s column by Bono in Elle magazine and offered the observation that lately, it seems Bono has had women on his mind a lot. (Just lately, you say?!) Last fall he spoke at the annual Women’s Conference outside Los Angeles; then, we got their first single and video from the new album; and now, Bono’s turning a page of Elle (RED), by appealing to those whose chromosomes are both X to think about … shopping: “Not everybody is able to march to the barricades—not everybody owns a pair of proper military boots—but there’s something you can do even in Manolos.”
And Bono would know a thing or two about what one can do in boots, wouldn’t he?
Bono’s not really talking about just shopping, of course, nor is he really talking to just women. But he does write “to honor the fact that women are at the vanguard of a movement to stop the greatest health crisis in 600 years: HIV/AIDS.”
It makes me wonder how U2 is planning this concert tour to not let us forget that the “women of the future hold the big revelations.”
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I have a revelation – if I were to wear a pair of boots such as the one shown on this blog, not only would I break my ankle, but I would be tripping over myself. I’m of the mindset that heels like the ones pictured in the blog are the creation of men who feel that women should be in pain, walk unnaturally, and cause harm to themselves all for the sake of fashion and to appease the desire of a man. Those heels are just asking for trouble.
Do you expect to see someone in an African village who walks 10 miles each way to get clean water to be wearing a pair of shoes like that? Heck no. So, why equate a pair of heels like the one shown to honor women as the vanguard of the HIV/AIDS movement? Makes no sense.
Sure, Manolos are quite an expensive shoe, so the amount of donation should be quite good to the global fund – but I find it to be ironic that the shoe isn’t something more appropriate for the cause. I can understand the Chuck Taylors made out of African mudcloth – but these shoes are just ridiculous.
To consider these to be a pair of “proper military boots” is also absurd. I’m sure our troops are really marching in those in the middle of Iraq at the moment. Give me a break, Bono!
Those shoes are not my style either, but in Bono’s defense, in his letter he was targeting his words to Elle mag readers, some of whom actually are fans of Manolos. Also, the inclusion of the shoe image in the post may be misleading – that shoe pictured above is not part of Red. Manolo Blahnik is not a Red brand, as far as I know. Taken in the full context of his letter in Elle, Bono actually only mentioned Manolos in passing. He was saying, hey not everyone is on the ground working in Africa, but even if you are just in your fancy heels, just shopping on the sidewalk, you can still help out by shopping Red. That idea doesn’t offend me at all because I don’t feel like it is addressed to me.
Sherry, I think you’re missing the point. He’s saying that, even if you’re the type to wear Manolos instead of work boots or military boots, there’s still a lot you can do to fight the good fight.