#623 - High Heels, 2,3, 1963 + Modern Life Illustrated, 1, 2, 1967
High Heels, Volume 2, Number 3,
Selbee [Leonard Burtman], 1963,
a digital replica
High Heels, Volume 2, Number 3
+ Modern Life Illustrated, Volume 1, Number 2,
optimized for ebook viewing
and
Modern Life Illustrated, Volume 1, Number 2,
Health Knowledge, 1967
a digital replica
High Heels, Volume 2, Number 3
Published at irregular intervals during the 1960s as a Selbee Associates product and in the 1970s and 1980s by Eros Goldstripe, the full-sized High Heels magazine usually focused on pretty women in exotic footwear. I chose this issue as ebook content because the assortment of photographs functions as an album of shoe and boot styles This issue lives up to its name, with a potpourri of high heel fashions, including pumps, sandals, mules, ankle straps, sling-backs, and boots of many heights. Pictures show models in garter belts, corsets, and stockings. Some of the photographs contributed by readers were taken decades earlier and show the variety and longevity of high heels as a sexy fashion accessory.
CONTENTS
Tee Tee Red, Heather Christie, and 10 French models
Except for the back cover, which duplicates the photo on the front cover, the ebook contains every word and picture of the original. The tonality of photos has been adjusted, clarifying the printed images. Although layouts have been revised slightly for some pages, the ebook is a close digital replica. Two Stanton pages may have appeared in other ebooks.Modern Life Illustrated, V 1, N 2
With a fetish diva clad in tight, shiny black patent, it appears that Modern Life Illustrated sought to compete for the interests mined by Mr. Burtman in his Bizarre Life magazines. Like so many Bizarre Life issues, Manhattan-based Health Knowledge made Modern Life Illustrated as much a fashion book as fetish zine.
In the late 1960s, London fashion innovation followed the British music invasion with “mod” styles. Haute couture introduced mini-skirts and, encouraged by the women's movement, low-heeled shoes. The fashion pages of Modern Life Illustrated reflect these trends.
The pictures of cover girl Kim Soong are the best thing about the second issue of Modern Life Illustrated. Changing from pumps and stockings to boots and jodhpurs, this exotic beauty seems to understand her role as fetish model. Complete, carefully-adjusted costumes and clean photography yield a set of rare quality and precision.
Three other models appear in pictorials, showing off stockings and pumps. One model dons tight rubber from neck to toe. Some of the photography realizes its ambitions.
Photos of diverse footwear fashions, old and new, illustrate an article titled ”Sensuous High Heels.” Fashion articles include Miniskirt Mania, Peekaboo Fashions, Leather, Feathers and Suede, Swinging London, Mod, Mod World, and Late Flashes from Fashion Centers. No short stories, but some amusing period ads. No comics or illustrations, but contemporary commercial clip art.
The original 1967 publication translated well to the ebook format. Although some page layouts have been revised to allow enlargement of pictures that have been left out of the optimized version, every word and picture of the original is included in this close digital replica.
High Heels, 2/3 and
Modern Life Illustrated, 1/2,
optimized for ebook viewing
Each of the 150 pictures in the original High Heels magazine has been placed on its own page in the optimized ebook version. This format fills the monitor screen with wide ebook pages, intended to simulate close-ups of individual pictures and reduce the need for scrolling and zooming. Most pages show the complete model at one end of the wide rectangle and an enlargement of choice details beside it or on the following page. (This is the same presentation format used for the New High Heels 1 ebooks.) Most of the photos have smooth gray tones in this context but a few of the very smallest pictures are a bit grainy when enlarged for optimized ebook pages. No text.
About 80 pages of photos from Modern Life Illustrated supplement the High Heels content The pictures added from Modern Life Illustrated only include photos of models (25 pages of Kim Soong) and high heels, omitting the alleged fashion pages. The result is a unique pinup album designed to anticipate the curiosity of the viewer.
Three e-books, two digital replicas and one optimized, delivered by download link.