Now, 'Ishi' shoes that make you feel like standing on a stone

Want to have a gravity defying shoe experience? Well, then step into a pair of Walter Steiger's Ishi wedges, which makes you feel like standing on a smooth stone at the beach, without hurting your feet.

The Ishi wedge shoes are an amalgamation of a strappy sandal crossed with a ballerina's pointe shoe.

The footwear made a splash on the Akris Spring 2011 runway during Paris Fashion Week, and are no more uncomfortable than high heels.

At least according to Paul Steiger, the designer's son, who conversed with some of the models who wore them.

"The wedge gives the impression that the weight is on the toes, but I talked to the models and they said they walked in them really easily. One model who was a ballet dancer said she loved the feeling of the shoes," the New York Daily News quoted Steiger as saying in an interview from Paris.

The shoes, made of soft calf leather with a wooden wedge, have a Japanese influence and indeed, the word "ishi" means "stone" in Japanese, he explained.

The feeling of standing on a smooth stone at the beach is what inspired his father to design this shoe, he said.

"If you stand on a stone, the weight of your body is on the arch of your foot, not your toe, which is what happens with high-heeled shoes. So for the first time, the construction of a shoe allows for the body weight to be on the arch," explained Steiger.

The Ishi wedges fit nicely into the Akris presentation, which "was inspired a lot by Japan," explained Steiger. 

Ishi wedges come in natural beige and a chocolate brown and will be available for around $1,200 starting in January.