The Versatile Store

December 2019

The most versatile athletic shoe in the world.

Versatile is a brand that carries the most versatile athletic shoe in the world.

Gender: These are gendered shoes. They are created from a used pair of American Football cleats and a pair of high heels. These two shoes are heavily gendered objects in the world. As football is the epitome of a masculine, aggressive, manly sport, the shoes will reflect those ideas within them. Then, the high heel contemporarily is used most commonly by those who identify as feminine. Though the heel was invented originally for men riding horseback, phenomenons like pornography brought heels “into style” for women. Then the Versatile shoe, by mixing these two gendered objects works to challenge the idea of gender and the expectations behind these two ideas in this socially constructed binary.

Expectations: It is clear to most that heels are not an athletic shoe and are in fact very dangerous when attempting to wear them for such activities. Ultimately however, by framing them in this way, I am working to create a conversation about the expectations of women in the United States. In my experience, I have felt pressures to look, act and perform in a certain way in life. These pressures are coming from the media, my peers, my coaches, they’re coming from everywhere because they are engrained in our society. The Versatile universe creates a conversation around these expectations by claiming that these high heeled shoes are to be worn by all athletes both male and female and it will enhance the way they perform AND the way they look while doing it.

KeKe The Store Clerk: In this installation and performance, the character “KeKe” played by myself, the artist, was part of the universe that Versatile lives in. KeKe worked as a store assistant helping customers try on this athletic shoe. She completely ignored and even scoffed at comments that questioned this heel as an athletic shoe. This worked to convince the participants of the new reality and world being created where this shoe is a unisex shoe made for athletic activities.