subject: How Heels Came To Evolve [print this page] High heels have been around for a very long time.
They actually originated as shoes with a purpose, despite their present reputation as a fashion accessory for sophisticated women. Let us look at how high heels originated, way back in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs.
The known history of heels starts in Egyptian times, circa 4000 BC, where murals found in tombs and temples depict people wearing high heeled shoes. These early high heels were simply made of flexible leather, held together with a leather strap or lace. The next incarnation was a sort of platform sandal in 200 BC. The Romans who used these sandals referred to them as kothorni. They had high wood soles and were used predominantly by tragic Roman actors. They were mainly worn by the actors to simulate height. Next, in 1000 CE the tradition came into play that the father of the bride in a Saxon wedding would give one of the bride's shoes to the groom in order to symbolize the passing of authority from one man to another.
However, it should be known that shoes weren't always for practicality, class, or beautification purposes. Let us take the example of King Henry II of England, in the 1150s, when he started wearing shoes with pointed toes. Little did his courtiers know that King Henry II was wearing these shoes for an odd, though still functional purpose - to disguise his toes' abnormalities. In the 12th century CE, knights began to wear shoes with downward curving toes in order to keep their feet in the stirrups of their horses. Indeed, many people made a big deal about shoe toes back then. Shoe toes were actually a way for one to determine how someone ranked in the society. Kings and princes would wear shoes with toes up to 30 inches long!
Women didn't start being fussy about their shoes or giving them that much attention until the middle part of the 18th century, thanks to Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette. Madame de Pompadour's shoes were named after herself, and had extraordinarily high heels. But due to these shoes' extremely high and narrow heels, many ladies would faint at court due to the shoes reducing the size of their feet. Less than half a century later, Marie Antoinette would die quite notably wearing two inch heels.
