High Heels

As a club­go­er in the 1970s and ​‘80s, Frank Rispoli doc­u­ment­ed the Punk and New Wave club scenes in New York City. ​‘The epi­cen­tre of every­thing was Dance­te­ria’, recalls Rispoli of the club where Madon­na made her debut. Rec­og­niz­ing the inher­ent expres­sion of sex­u­al­i­ty and desire in both fash­ion and club cul­ture, Rispoli cap­tured the inter­twin­ing of the two. Focus­ing exclu­sive­ly on women’s shoes – a fas­ci­na­tion he traces back to child­hood – he pho­tographed club­go­ers, bar patrons, singers, and band mem­bers, uti­liz­ing the staged sets and bath­rooms of the clubs, and the taxis and side­walks of the city as his back­drops. Seen togeth­er, these images rep­re­sent a time cap­sule from a hedo­nis­tic age.

‘Rispoli’s pho­tos are intox­i­cat­ing Kodachrome time­stamps that cap­ture the fre­net­ic zeit­geist of the late ​‘70s and ear­ly ​‘80s, leav­ing the iden­ti­ty of the women up for inter­pre­ta­tion.’ – Han­nah Ong­ley, I‑D magazine

Erick Brad­shaw Hugh­es is a writer and musi­cian liv­ing in New York City. He hosts Spin Age Blasters on WFMU.