Hundreds of backgrounds are ready to go, among them depictions of a fish, a skateboarder, a View-Master, a leaf, a lovable monster, a Polaroid camera, a high-heel shoe, a head-banging rocker and a kissing couple.

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There, as a schoolboy, he had encountered a sign that featured a shoe with a spiky heel in the middle of a red circle with a diagonal slash.

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They had to walk a fine line to avoid anything too gimmicky, even working on the giant Broadway stage, so they decided against threading lights through the heel of the shoe or other special effects.

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On the foot, the first sensation of a Bemer shoe is the solid balance between heel and ball--and this in a ready-to-wear model.

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Teams also came upon a heel from a woman's shoe, which some believe resembled Ms. Earhart's footwear.

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Whereas a conventional shoe, like a Nike Air, is built for heel-striking when you run, barefoot throw you onto your sole.

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Bata Shoe Museum curator Elizabeth Semmelhack noted that over the course of history, heel heights rose when the economy fell.

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Still, Mr. Louboutin occasionally takes it to the edge: His "Fetish Ballerine" of 2007 has a heel so high, about 10 inches, that it turns a black pump into a pointe shoe.

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