High Heel Project

The High Heel Project, which started in 2011, is a project in which artist Mari Katayama aims to create prosthetic legs that allow her to wear high heels, walk, and perform on stage. 

During her college days, Katayama worked as a singer at a jazz bar. One day, a customer heckled at her “a woman who doesn’t wear high heels is not a woman.” The vexation led Katayama to initiate this project while still a postgraduate student. However, as she carried out research and development of her prostheses, she was faced with the fact of society that not everyone has the freedom – or open choice – to even hold an aspiration, like a young child walking awkwardly on their mother’s high heels. There are very few options given through public assistance, particularly social welfare, in Japan. This almost felt like an affirmation that fashion is a luxury, and not an important element in the rehabilitation and social activities of the concerned party. Whether it was a pair of very excessive and iconic high heels, or a piece of clothing that was easy to put on and take off so that one could go to the toilet alone, they were all in the realm of fashion, and not seen as part of welfare.

“When you have a dream, you realise that you don’t have a choice,” says Katayama, who noticed that this is a problem faced by everyone in society, regardless of whether they have a disability or not. The most important thing is not that everyone should wear high heels or dress up, but that, first and foremost, they should have the freedom of choice to say what they want and what they don’t want. “I must continue to walk and speak up wearing symbolic and extreme high heels.” With the goal of freedom of choice open to all, Katayama has expanded the activities of the High Heel Project through lectures, live stage performances and artwork productions.

The project was temporarily suspended due to Katayama’s pregnancy and childbirth, but relaunched its second edition in 2022. 

A notable feature of the second edition is that Sergio Rossi, the luxury Italian shoe brand, was invited as a partner to develop the high heels. And the completely custom-made “Mari K” was born. Katayama’s creative activities, which began with the creation of hand-sewn objects using needles and threads, found a fascinating connection with the skilled “handiwork” of the brand’s craftspeople involved in the entire manufacturing process of a pair of shoes. In addition, Katayama’s resonance with founder Sergio Rossi’s philosophy that “shoes are an extension of a woman’s legs” led to their partnership in the project. As a media collaborator, VOGUE JAPAN, who raises awareness of social issues and introduces the latest national and international examples with a focus on diversity & inclusion, sustainability, and work & life, worked side by side with the project. While reporting on the project’s progress, they also wrote articles based on the interview series they organised spanning a variety of topics and guests over the course of the year 2022.

A sponsorship agreement was made with Nabtesco Corporation. They contributed “ALLUX2,” the Japan-made electronic prosthetic legs, to the project, which dramatically expanded the scope of Katayama’s activities and boosted the project. A special website for the High Heel Project was also launched, featuring Katayama’s dialogues with the engineers and prosthetists, and served as a bridge between users, engineers and companies.

More than in the first edition of the project, through connecting and speaking with different people, the second edition has questioned not only the “freedom of choice” but also the possibilities of social welfare and the body itself. As ever, the project keeps moving toward the goal of “freedom to aspire to ideals” for all.

just one of those things #002, 2022 ©Mari Katayama