Lotus Shoes: Stories between Stitches

Chinese shoes for bound feet, or lotus shoes, were worn by Chinese women from the Song Dynasty (960–1279) to the early twentieth century. Women practiced a footbinding ritual in which they tightly wrapped their 6- to 8-year-old daughters’ feet into a “lotus” shape by folding the four toes under the arch, halting development; the excruciatingly painful and repeated re-forming of the foot achieved a higher, bulging instep and elongated appearance from big toe to heel, necessitating a teetering gait that was considered fashionable and attractive. Within a strictly patriarchal society that controlled almost every aspect of women’s lives, women hand-crafted shoes for their bound feet with personalized designs of vivid hues and intricate embroidery, revealing the maker’s inner thoughts and unseen experiences.