Alexander McQueen & the 12-inch Heel

So, y'all know how much a looooove a fashion blog. And nearly EVERY fashion blog I read regularly has had a post up about McQueen S/S 2010 and the crazy-cray shoes he sent down the runway. Everybody in the fashion-blogosphere is awash in enthusiasm about the collection, it seems, whereas everyone NOT obsessed with fashion is mystified. Feministing posted a link to this commentary on the New York Times website with the following commentary of their own: "Various writers consider the question of why many women wear high-heels. No one goes with the shortest answer: Patriarchy."

(image totally ganked from White Lightning, with apologies)

What are we, as fashion-loving feminists, to do? Are they right, that our high heels are tools of oppression? I know they were designed to make women more attractive to men by forcing us to stick our hips out in weird ways and look baby-making ready or something, and I know they're debilitating in terms of walking/running, and that in a variety of ways, they're really obviously tools of oppression. But that hasn't stopped either us from buying them-- are they just one of the many feminist issues we give up on as being too difficult to be feminist about, like not saying the word "guys" (which I've felt guilty about ever since I read an article on it in Bitchfest, but which I have not stopped saying)? And if they are, what makes high heels, or the colloquial use of the word guys, or letting boys open doors for us, such hard symptoms of oppression to ditch? Should we ditch them, or reclaim them, or support them while feeling guilty or what?

I don't really wear high heels, cuz I'm a baby about how much they hurt my feet, but I know you do, and maybe your response is just, fuck it, which I'd understand, cuz thinking about this stuff is exhausting and guilt-making. But I'm curious about your feelings on the subject, and whether or not you feel like the shortest answer really is patriarchy. Well, maybe the shortest answer to everything is usually patriarchy. Ha ha ha.

(Ooh, in an ironic twist, I am wearing this shirt right now, purchased at Buffalo Exchange yesterday. And when I bought it, I totally thought about how it was kind of glorifying that like, sexy femme fatale male-fantasy-of-female-empowerment kind of thing, with the high heel and all. But I decided I could probably work with that, and that wearing it with my short hair and hairy armpits was kind of a fuck you to that idea, so I bought it. And I'm totally digging it. Even more layers to this debate!)