Shoes are an essential weapon in the armoury of seduction and desire. The prostitute in Manet’s scandalous oil painting Olympia (1863), for instance, is naked except for a black ribbon around her neck and one high-heeled mule on her left foot (the other mule has already provocatively slipped off). In feudal Japan, high-status courtesans called «oiran» wore traditional «geta» like this vertiginous velvet-and-lacquer pair, more than 20cm (7.9in) high, which resembles a hybrid between clogs, flip-flops and a skyscraper. The idea was that, while wearing them, prostitutes would be forced to adopt a slow, shuffling gait – alternately dragging their feet in a half-circle – so that their beauty could be scrutinised more easily by men.