Cruella de Vil wore them.  Though she did not get a chance to use them on any of the Dalmatians, stilettos remain full of possibilities, often sinister. In the poster of High Heels, a 1991 film by Pedro Almodovar, nothing remains unsaid: a stiletto ends in a pistol.

That reminds us of the origin of the word for the sharp, high heels that are the inevitable accessory of the femme fatale on screen. It comes from the Italian word “stiletto”, which is a long, slender knife with a needle-like point, meant to stab. A weapon in the hands of men in the middle ages, it began to be worn by women on their feet by the 20th century, after World War II, which is when the West relaxed into peace by booming into fashion.

But is it footwear or still a weapon? It all began long ago, with who else but mighty Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, having been credited with some of the earliest elevator shoes. There is something very sexy about women’s feet strapped to a pair of high heels, even if it they are difficult, and impractical. Because there is something sexy women walking in them, and it seems to go back to the mythic imagination.

Some feel that the stiletto, which is really about a style, not the height of he heels, is a classic because it mirrors the shape of the woman’s body.

After World War II, when women returned to the sphere of the home after wartime work and stress, they could afford to take things easier. The stilettos took over slowly from the 50s, designed mainly by Italian and French shoemakers and designers. The greatest of sex symbols wore them: Marilyn Monroe owned 40 pairs of Ferragamo stilettos; Madonna wore them; and so did the ladies in Sex and the City. And all glamorous ladies everywhere in the world are carrying on the trend.

Not that the stilettos have been without their share of criticism. They are not exactly recommended for the wearer’s health. They were disowned by the feminist 60s and 70s as another sexist device that objectifies and punishes the body of women.

And stilettos, as if to prove the latter point, continued to be popular in pornography with their erotic appeal.

But if considered disempowering, they are also perceived as empowering. Would Madonna be seen in anything that disempowered her? She exudes sex, glamour and power and they all seem to flow from the needle-points of her stilettos. And who can survive Daryl Hannah as California Mountain Snake walking down the hospital corridor in a white suit, white eye-patch and white stilettos in Kill Bill? Only Black Mamba, who wears a yellow Bruce Lee jumpsuit.

However, how the ladies on screen can escape on stilettos from Jurassic Park being pursued by dinosaurs remains a mystery. Or in real life, how some women can dance like that on those sharp pointed things!

• Models: Priyadarshini Chatterjee, Jessica Aaron and Diksha Katyal 

• Outfits, shoes & accessories: HM, Paarsh Atelier & Woman Ambassadors

• Hair and make-up: Priyanka Surana & Suman Ganguly 

• Styling: Sumit Sinha 

• Photographer: Paul David Martin