Sarah’s shoes are a gift for her birthday and her Ontario College of Art and Design University graduation in 2013, to be used at professional events like art openings. A symbol of academic accomplishment and hope as she launches her career.
Feelings, Sarah, associates with her graduation ceremony are mired. Her parents couldn’t attend as they were in divorce court that very day. Her shoes consolidate two powerful converging life-changes pitted against each other, the beginning of her career and the end of her parents’ marriage.
Sarah enjoys her shoes as fashion objects. "They're also pretty cute and were expensive, so I cherish them for that too.” The deep symbolic meaning is juxtaposed by their aesthetic charm. We validate luxury acquisitions through justifying actions, such as a graduation.
Heels psychologically elevate when ‘power dressing’. A style philosophy using fashion objects to increase inner confidence for an authoritative impression. It is an armour rebuffing and reclaiming female stereotypes. Powerful women are pictured in high-heels, googling ‘businesswoman’ supports this. Dress communicates respect for the self and others. High-heels can subordinate or empower.
Sarah’s, heels are, “my coming of age shoes,” symbols of adulthood and maturity. “They’re the first really good quality dress shoes I’ve had and it was a surprise that my Mom went ahead and got them for me. Now I can feel like a fully grown lady.”
Sarah cradles the shoes in front of her womb. She looks down on them, contemplating her future. Her expression also echoing religious or spiritual paintings of motherhood. The shoes are a gift from her mother and, Sarah, a painter herself, deliberately employs imagery evoking symbolism of the ‘chalice’.
Gift giving is communication by material exchange, sustaining relationships and clarifying feelings. We feel seen, understood, and loved. Becoming treasures, they link a giver and receiver.
Turbulence and unknowns from the divorce and her career destabilize, Sarah’s, identity. This is soothed through the shoe’s physicality. Here, the most unstable shoe-variety gives metaphorical reinforcement. They remind, Sarah, of a dependable relationship and hope realized in change. The shoes came as her family is, “kind of falling apart…they symbolize my Mom’s support for me moving forward and making a good impression while I start my career.”