Painful shoes are making a statement

'Scary Beautiful' shoes are raising questions about beauty

Most women can't run or jump well in high heels without losing their balance, but a new shoe design in Europe is making it difficult for women to even stand up straight.

According to eCreativity, the heels are the product of a collaboration between René van den Berg, a Dutch shoe designer, and Leanie van der Vyver, a South African art graduate from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.

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Featured on the academy's website, the shoes are titled "Scary Beautiful" and challenge current beauty ideals by "inflicting an unexpected new beauty standard."

The shoes sit backward on the foot and the wearer's foot points down like ballet shoes while her shins leaning forward almost 45 degrees.

These shoes were designed for an art project and are meant to remind people that warped ideas of how what's considered beautiful has encouraged women to break through the pain barrier to achieve perfection.

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