Anne Betts was sassy and confident strolling down New York's Fifth Avenue in her strappy, 5-inch platform heels. Until, that is, she stepped off a curb and fell to the ground.

'I felt it immediately,' says the New York ad-sales manager, referring to the pain that shot up from her just-sprained ankle. Although her doctor admonished her to give up the skyscraper shoes and imposed a 3-inch-heel maximum, Ms. Betts admits she can't resist the allure of tall shoes. 'I love to dance in them,' she says. While standing still, she notes, 'they improve your posture.'

Not so long ago, high heels were defined as 3 or 4 inches -- a footnote to give a little height and a more appealing silhouette to the wearer. But this fall, shoes have been supersized with the proliferation of 5-, 6- and even 7-inch heels and platforms. The uber-heels range from $100 versions sold by Steve Madden to deluxe pairs costing between $600 and $1,500 from designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Marni, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin. They come in an array of shapes, including spiky stilettos, tapered cones, sloping wedges and thick wooden posts. Exaggerated platforms have thick, elevated soles, as well as high heels, making for a superhero, rather than a Barbie-doll, look.

'These are the highest heels that I've ever seen sold on a commercial level,' notes Roseanne Morrison, fashion director for Doneger Group, a retail consultant for more than 200 stores. And they're selling. At Bergdorf Goodman, senior vice president Edwin Burstell says they represent 'a large piece of the business this fall.'

Mr. Blahnik, who for more than 20 years topped out at 5-inch heels, pushed the envelope this year, adding a 6-inch style to his line. 'These are still sexy, pretty shoes,' he says. The designer -- who doesn't do platforms -- says that 6-inch heels already account for about 30% of his company's business.

The heels are proving treacherous to many. At Prada's spring 2009 fashion show in Milan last month, two models fell down on the runway; others stumbled as they walked in mile-high shoes designed by Miuccia Prada. 'I was having a panic attack, my hands were shaking. The heels were so high,' one of the models told reporters after the show. 'Some of the girls were crying backstage they were so scared.'

But instead of rejecting the extreme heels, many women can't seem to get enough of them.

Claudia Chan, a 33-year-old owner of an event-marketing business, partly blames her super high heels for back problems and a herniated disc. And yet she wears 4- or 5-inch high heels to business meetings and for most social occasions.

'I look taller, my legs look longer, and I feel more slender,' says the 5-foot-2-inch New Yorker. 'About half of the clothes I wear only look good in high heels. There is a price to pay for beauty, and high heels is one of them,' she says.

Mr. Louboutin, the Parisian shoe designer known for his slick red soles, says that his new 6- and 7-inch stilettos are selling so well right now that he plans to introduce 8-inch platform shoes next fall. 'I hear they can be painful,' Mr. Louboutin says, 'but women keep asking for them.'

Women's shoes with heels 3 inches or higher represented 25% of all women's fashion footwear sold at shoe retail chains for the 12 months ended August 2008 compared with 21% in 2006, according to NPD Group Inc. At the same time, moderate heels, between 1 1/2 inches and 2 7/8 inches, saw their market share fall to 26% from 34% in 2006.

Whether the trend has legs is yet to be seen. New York-based designer Warren Edwards, who participated in the heel hype this summer, has since backed down. 'I think they have become vulgar and unwalkable,' he says. 'They are figments of runway imagination -- it's like, how high can they go? They've become cartoony.'

Stacy Lastrina, executive vice president of marketing for retailer Nine West, acknowledges that 'the majority of women do not wear shoes that are so extreme.' But due to all the runway exposure, the company has adapted some of the looks -- with more 'walkable' styles that top out at 4 1/2 inches.

The shoes, which often feature peep-toe cutouts and bulbous round toes, have been popularized by red-carpet warriors such as Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson.

The contemporary stiletto was invented in the 1950s by Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo, who made his first pair for Marilyn Monroe in alligator skin. The models back then were tame by today's standards, with heels no higher than about 3 inches.

In the 1970s, high-heeled platform shoes caught on with hip, young women (and a few brave men) who clomped around in heavy cork-soled platform shoes that were up to 4- or 5-inches thick.

Lofty heels re-emerged in the mid 1990s, as millions of women adopted TV's 'Sex and the City' standard: pointy-toed, 3- and 4-inch stilettos (often worn year-round with bare legs or jeans) that seemed to have an elongating effect.

Today's megaheels, among the season's few strong fashion trends, have a historical precedent. High platform shoes date back to the 15th century in Europe when upper-class women and courtesans teetered on 11-inch-high blocky platforms, called Chopines. They were so impractical that wearers 'required a servant or a chivalrous man to help them walk,' says Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. Paintings of the period, she adds, depict women 'towering over other people, which was a way of elevating one's self above one's peers.'

Women who lack attendants -- or curbside limousine service -- have found a way to zap the discomfort of today's extreme heels. They get injections of a cosmetic filler such as Restylane or Juvederm to plump up the balls of feet. These 'pillows' last for six to nine months.

Suzanne Levine, a New York podiatric surgeon who teaches the $500 to $1,500 procedure to other doctors, says she's been getting calls from patients, especially women over 40, who want to put the cushioning back in their feet so they can wear higher heels.

Making ultrahigh shoes more wearable doesn't necessarily make them any safer. Joshua Kaye, a Los Angeles podiatrist, describes what happens to the feet in high-heeled platform shoes. 'It's like you're walking on stilts,' he says. 'The ball of your foot is up a couple of inches off the ground in platform shoes. That puts more pressure on the ligaments and soft tissue, instead of the bones.' Elevating the heel more than 3 inches off the ground, he says, increases the odds of suffering a sprained or broken ankle.

Ms. Betts, who is now healing from her shoe incident, is undeterred -- and almost ready to slip back into her super stilettos. 'The only flats I wear,' she says, 'are sneakers.'

纽约，时髦自信的广告销售经理安妮·贝茨(Anne Betts)信步走在第五大道上，脚下是五英寸高的系带坡跟鞋。当她抬脚走下人行道时，整个人摔倒在地。

贝茨说：“我马上就感觉到了。” 她是说她感觉到了脚踝扭伤后突如其来的疼痛。贝茨的医生劝她不要再穿那些跟特别高的鞋，鞋跟最高不要超过三英寸，不过贝茨承认自己实在是受不了那些高跟鞋的诱惑。她说，我爱极了穿着高跟鞋起舞的感觉。她还指出，在站立不动时，“高跟鞋能让你仪态更优美。”

不算太久之前，“高跟”的定义还是高3到4英寸的鞋跟──一个无足紧要的小配件，能让人增高那么一点儿，让穿着者的整个身体轮廓更富魅力。但是今年秋季，鞋子蹬上了高达5、6甚至7英寸的高跟和坡跟。超高跟鞋囊括的范围甚广，从斯蒂夫·马登专营店(Steve Madden)里100美元一双的鞋子，到售价600-1500美元的由伊夫·圣罗兰(Yves Saint Laurent)、玛尼(Marni)、莫罗·伯拉尼克(Manolo Blahnik)、克里斯提·鲁布托(Christian Louboutin)等大师设计的奢侈名履，应有尽有。其形状也是各有千秋：尖头细高跟、锥形跟、楔形坡跟、粗大的木制鞋跟，不一而足。夸张的厚底坡跟鞋──厚厚的鞋底加上高跟──打造出了超级英雄、而非芭比娃娃的形像。

Doneger Group公司的时尚主管罗斯安娜·莫里森(Roseanne Morrison)说：“这是我在商场里见过的跟最高的高跟鞋。”Doneger公司为200多家店铺提供零售顾问服务。这些鞋子很是畅销。波道夫·古德曼精品百货店（Bergdorf Goodman）的高级副总裁埃德温·伯斯坦尔(Edwin Burstell)说这些鞋子“占了今年秋季市场的很大份额。”

二十多年来，伯拉尼克设计的鞋子最高不超过5英寸。今年他终于打破了这个限度，在自己的作品中加入了6英寸的设计。他说：“这样的鞋子更性感、更漂亮。”这位从不设计坡跟鞋的设计师说，6英寸的高跟鞋已经占了他公司整个营业额的30%。

事实证明，这些高跟鞋对很多人来说都十分危险。上月在米兰普拉达(Prada)2009年春季新品秀上，两位模特从T台上摔了下来，其他模特穿上缪西娅·普拉达(Miuccia Prada)设计的超高鞋后走起路来也是踉踉跄跄。一位模特在走台之后告诉记者：“我感到很恐慌，手都在发抖。鞋子实在太高了。有些女孩吓得不行，在后台都哭了。”

但是，许多女士非但没有对这种极端的高跟鞋敬而远之，反而买了一双又一双，似乎再多也不够。

33岁的克劳迪娅·陈(Claudia Chan)经营一家事件营销公司，她偶尔也抱怨超高鞋会导致自己背部不适，有次还引发了椎间盘突出。但是，在出席商业会议及多数社交场合时，她却还是穿着4、5英寸高的鞋子。

这位身高5英尺2英寸的纽约人说，这样我人显得更高，腿显得更长，感觉自己更苗条。我大概有一半的衣服都得配高跟鞋才会好看。美是要付出代价的，高跟鞋就是其中的一个代价。

因设计红底鞋而闻名的巴黎设计师鲁布托说，他设计的6、7英寸新款细高跟鞋现在销售非常火爆，他还打算明年秋季设计8英寸的坡跟鞋。鲁本托说：“我听说这些鞋子穿着会很痛苦，但女士们却对这样的鞋子趋之若鹜。”

据NPD Group市场调研公司的统计，在截止2008年8月的12个月中，鞋类零售连锁店售出的时尚女鞋中有25%是跟高3英寸及以上的鞋子，2006年这一比例为21%。与此同时，1 1/2至2 7/8英寸的中高跟鞋的市场份额则从2006年的34%跌到了26%。

这股风尚能否持续还需拭目以待。参加了今夏的高跟鞋宣传活动之后，纽约设计师沃伦·爱德华兹(Warren Edwards)便不再设计此类鞋子了。他说，我觉得这样的鞋子已经变得很庸俗，而且叫人没法走路。它们只是T型台幻想的产物 ──就好比说，鞋子究竟可以高到什么地步呢？这样的鞋子已经成了荒诞无稽的东西。

零售公司Nine West的执行营销副总裁斯泰西·拉斯特里娜(Stacy Lastrina)承认，其实“绝大多数女士并不会穿那么极端的鞋子”。不过为了紧随T台风尚，该公司还是调整了自己的产品风格，推出了跟高4 1/2英寸、更“适宜行走”的式样。

这类鞋子通常都是露趾或是圆头设计，因维多利亚·贝克汉姆(Victoria Beckham)、詹尼弗·洛佩兹(Jennifer Lopez)以及杰西卡·辛普森(Jessica Simpson)等红地毯斗士的追捧而流行开来。

现代细高跟鞋产生于20世纪50年代，当时的意大利设计师萨尔瓦多·菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)用鳄鱼皮为玛丽莲·梦露(Marilyn Monroe)打造了他的第一双高跟鞋。当时的鞋子鞋跟最高不会超过3英寸，以今天的标准来看已经有些太过沉闷了。

70年代，厚底坡跟鞋开始大行其道，年轻女士们（以及少数勇敢的男士）脚踩厚厚的软木底坡跟鞋招摇过市，鞋底的厚度最多达到4、5英寸。

90年代中期，细高跟鞋卷土重来，数以百万计的女人纷纷效仿电视剧《欲望都市》(Sex and the City)中的标准穿着：跟高3、4英寸、似乎可以令身材显得修长的尖头细高跟鞋（通常是一年穿到头，光腿或是配仔裤穿）。

如今的超高跟是本季少数几股强劲时尚风潮之一，而它在历史上也有先例。厚底坡跟鞋的历史可以追溯至15世纪，当时的欧洲上流社会贵妇和高级妓女颤颤巍巍地穿着一种高达11英寸、名为高底鞋(Chopines)的厚实鞋子。多伦多贝塔鞋类博物馆(Bata Shoe Museum)馆长伊丽莎白·西摩尔海克(Elizabeth Semmelhack)说，这种鞋子实在是很不好穿，穿这种鞋子的人“走路需要一位仆人或是一位殷 的男士搀扶”。她说，当时的油画中描绘有这样的妇女形像，她们“耸立在他人之上，以此彰显自己高人一等的地位。”

那些没有仆人──也没有豪华车在路边等候──的女士找到了一种方法来应对如今这种超高跟带来的不适。她们注射Restylane和Juvederm等美容剂使足部跖球变得丰满，这种注射出来的“脚枕”可保持六至九个月。

苏珊娜·列文(Suzanne Levine)是纽约的一位足病医生，她向其他医生教授这种要价500至1500美元的疗法。她说自己不断接到病人的电话，尤以年过四十的女性居多，她们都希望能够恢复自己脚部的缓冲功能，以便能穿上更高的鞋子。

那些相对舒适的超高鞋并不一定就是安全的。洛杉矶足病医生约书亚·卡耶(Joshua Kaye)描述了厚底坡跟鞋对脚部的影响。他说：“这就像踩着高跷走路，你的跖球位于离地几英寸高的坡跟鞋上，更多的压力就落到了韧带和软组织、而不是骨头上。”他说，脚后跟抬高到离地3英寸以上时，关节扭伤、踝关节受损的几率就会大大增加。

贝茨的脚伤还在恢复当中，但她依然英勇无畏──她已经差不多准备好再次穿上超高鞋了。她说：“我也穿平跟鞋，不过只限于运动鞋。”