The History of the Heel
A Look at the Development of Shoes in Fashion
Whether seen as the bane of their lives or as an adored necessity most women will have a pair of heels in their wardrobes. A look at the styles and history of heels.
Some of the earliest pictures of shoes were seen on ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to around 4,000 BC. These were pieces of leather laced onto the feet or sandals made of woven rushes. It is thought that Egyptian butchers would wear a heeled shoe to keep their feet away from the gore involved in their job.
In 200 BC the heel made its way into the world of fashion among Roman actors with the arrival of wood and cork platform soles called kothorni.In the 1600s the heel once again became a practical item as they were added to men's shoes to help keep their feet in stirrups when riding.
1533 saw the first women's heel designed to lengthen the legs. They were most notably worn by Catherine d'Medici for her wedding, at age 14, to make her appear two inches taller. Also around this time Mary Tudor began to wear high heels. Again in the 16th century, a busy time for the development of heels, the kothorni made a reappearance but this time as 24-inch pedestals called chopines, which were popular across Europe.
Later, and named after their inspiration, Louis XIV, the “Louis” heel became popular with both men and women. Some of the shoes owned by Louis XIV had five-inch heels resplendent with miniature battle scenes. In 1793 Marie Antoinette, so fond of her fashion and shoes she is said to have spent the fortunes of France on them, went to her execution wearing two-inch heels. (For the Sophia Coppola film Marie Antoinette, Manolo Blahnik designed over 100 pairs of shoes.)
From the 1850s to the 1950s the heel stayed around and below two inches, but the '50s saw the arrival of screen sirens such Marilyn Monroe and the shoe that encouraged her seductive wiggle, which was the stiletto. The stiletto was invented in Italy and shares its name with a short daggerlike knife. Also in fashion was the kitten heel, which looked much like a miniature stiletto. While the stiletto was the Marilyn of the shoe world, the kitten heel was the Audrey Hepburn.
The 70s saw a dramatic about-turn in heel style. The slim stiletto was shunned for the chunky platform sole. This was the new Flower-Power breed of the kothorni and chopine shoes of earlier centuries, and was worn by both men and women.
Heels of the 21st CenturyIn the 21st century all heels have their place in women's wardrobes (even high-heeled tennis shoes and flip flops), but there are some particularly beautiful though entirely impractical heels that are found in very few.
In 2006 Manolo Blahnik, to some considered an artist as much as he is a shoe designer, designed a heelless shoe balanced on an S-spring. Ballet-heeled boots and shoes are not as comfortable as they sound. They are a style of heel most often seen in the context of fetish or burlesque and have a vertiginous heel which forces the foot to stay in the position it would be in if dancing ballet en pointe. They are definitely liked more for their beauty than their practicality.
If you are a fan of comfort then you may want to read about ugg boots.
Sources:
