In my story, “The Glass Slipper,” Ashleigh purchases silver spike heels, otherwise known as stilettos. They are uncomfortable, but she is determined to wear the shoes favored by her fiancé. Though stilettos didn’t enter the fashion scene until the twentieth century, they were part of the evolution of high heels harking back over a millenium. Let’s take a look at how such impractical shoes have made their mark as fashion icons and how this fascination evolved over time.
In the tenth century, Persian soldiers wore high heels as they rode their horses into battle. The extra height must have made them look formidable to their enemies, but it also served to keep their feet secure as they stood in their stirrups. These high heels were decidedly practical and worn only by men.
By the sixteenth century, a strong trade relationship between Persia and Europe led to the high-heeled shoe becoming a fashion icon for well-heeled gentlemen all over Europe. Initially, the shoes served as outer layers to protect the men’s inner shoes from becoming soiled. Though thought of up to this point as strictly for men, Italian courtesans began to wear the high shoes around this time. The shoes these women wore were called chopines and were worn primarily to attract the attention of men. There is only one other recorded example of high-heeled shoes on a woman during this period: Those worn by Catherine de Medici, the Italian noblewoman who became Queen of France.
Other than queens and courtesans, women were still far from having their own high heels. Male European aristocrats enjoyed the more powerful image they projected in their tall shoes. The higher the heel, the greater the status. So high heels, back then, were symbolic of wealth, status, and masculinity.
One of the most fascinating chapters in the history of high heels is associated with King Louis XIV of France in the seventeenth century. He was a short man, but in his fancy high heels, he projected power and glory. His shoes were made of velvet and satin in deep reds and royal blues. He required all men in his court to wear high heels. His unique fashion sense later inspired the likes of renowned shoe designer Christian Louboutin.
Women began to wear fashionable high heels by the late seventeenth century, but with the advent of the French Revolution in the eighteenth century, both men and women set their high heels aside as they eschewed any connection with royalty.
By the nineteenth century, high heels made a comeback—but only for women. Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum, noted that “heels were becoming suspect for men as Enlightenment concepts of male ‘rationality’ posited that…‘irrational’ things such as high heels were better left to women.”
Technological advances in the twentieth century allowed for the debut of the stiletto, or spike heel, introduced in Christian Dior’s line in the 1930s. Actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn popularized this style in the 1950s, in what would later be regarded as the golden age of high heels. Health and safety concerns notwithstanding, this popularity is still a trend we see today: Stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, and Mariah Carey really seem to be reaching for the stars as they sport ever-higher high heels.
Sources:
- “The History of High Heels,” by Emmie Cosgrove, in London Runway, Sept. 11, 2019
- “Stiletto Heel,” Wikipedia
- “History of the High Heel: It Wasn’t Always a Woman’s Shoe,” by Emma Wynne, ABC Radio Perth, Nov. 12, 2017
