It is always a pleasure to see Russian women legging it across the street. Their distinctive high-heeled gait has even been given names, such as the Slavic Sway and the Tverskaya Trot.

Don’t Try This At Home

A poster to the Moscow Expats Forum claimed he could recognise a Russian woman anywhere without language. Only Russian women can skip across cobblestones and manhole covers in stilletos without falling over. Another expat asked whether the walk was taught in Russian schools or by the girls’ mothers.

Actually it is simply the result of walking badly. The continual tottering on six inch heels stiffens the Russian woman’s rear thigh muscles, which in turn produces more load on the rear buns, which then tighten and oscillate in an effort to maintain stability. You can compare a Russian walking woman’s butt flexing to a Formula 1 car tyre on the limit of grip. As the Carpetblogger recently noted, key elements of devushka style are heels with a circumference no larger than an ice-pick, which can never hope to platform the girls’ centre of gravitational pull.

Why the wobbling walk is tantalising has many historical precedents. Chinese girls had their feet bound at birth to prevent growth. Venetian women veered along the ancient streets in up to 20 inch tall ‘chopines‘. It made women look weak and vulnerable and therefore considered ’sexy’.

For Russian women, who are about as weak and vulnerable as a T-90, it has been particularly necessary to cultivate this illusion by toddling.