Did you know that high heels used to be worn by upper class men?
And that WWII helped bring high heels back into fashion for women?
If I ask you to imagine “high heel shoes”, your initial thought process probably doesn’t
include much about men.
And that’s because, today, high heels are primarily worn by women, and although we’re
familiar with the shoe, it has a variety of styles, shapes, sizes, and social meanings.
But whether you’re admiring them, or figuring out how to keep your balance in a pair of
sky high stilettos, heels and women tend to go together in the modern mind.
But have you ever wondered how something that has origins as a shoe for horseback riders,
as well as male warriors and aristocrats, ended up in the world of women’s high fashion?
So to understand this, first we have to ask ourselves:
What were some of the earliest kinds of high heels and why were men wearing them?
So the answer to this question is part warrior, part fancy pants aristocrats, and part horse…
which kind of sounds like a formula for the chimera of my nightmares.
But anyway, on his podcast “99% Invisible”, Roman Mars notes that the earliest wearers
of high heels were men, not women.
He notes that as early as the 10th century men who rode horseback in certain cultures
wore heeled boots because it made it easier to stay inside the stirrups.
And we can see that this style persists in certain kinds of riding boots today, most
notably cowboy boots.
According to Elizabeth Semmelhack, the Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto
(which is awesome, I’ve been there), high heels were essential for horseback riders
and marksmen in Persia (or modern day Iran).
She notes, "When the soldier stood up in his stirrups, the heel helped him to secure his
stance so that he could shoot his bow and arrow more effectively.”
At the end of the 16th century Persia's Shah Abbas the First had an impressive cavalry,
or soldiers who fight on horseback.
When he sent the first Persian diplomats to Russia, Germany, and Spain in 1599, to help
form alliances to defeat the Ottoman Empire, Persian fashion and heels became something
of a fashion craze… for European men... especially wealthy aristocratic men.
And I mean, I understand, because those Persian diplomats were looking pretty fresh.
After that, heels for men, became a fashion statement linked to virility and high class.
So by the 17th and early 18th century, we start to see stylish high heeled shoes on
kings and noblemen throughout Western Europe.
But just like today, walking around in heels was largely impractical and painful, especially
in cobbled streets.
But Semmelhack notes that this was kind of the point (pun intended) since wearing a shoe
you couldn’t walk far in or work in was a sign of wealth, distinction, and high birth.
And the original red bottoms weren’t Louboutins but a different Louis altogether, that’s
French King Louis XIV.
He wore high heels with red paint on them in the 1670s and soon had all of his courtiers
wearing red heels to show loyalty.
Ok so early high heels were kind of a man’s man’s world.
But that leads us to the second question:
When did the heel high become associated with women?
Well the trend spread to women around the 1630s, and the shoes were worn for somewhat
similar reasons as men.
That is to signal class status and high style.
But unlike their male counterparts, who were donning squarer heels with broader toes, the
styles adopted by European women throughout the 17th century, tended to favor slimmer
heels and pointier toes.
Because everyone knows that super skinny heels that squish all of your toes together into
an unnatural point are about as comfortable as walking on hot lava.
By the 18th century, heels for men (along with other ostentatious forms of clothing
such as heavy jewelry, rich fabrics, and bright colors) went out of fashion in favor of more
staid clothing that was more practical for getting work done… and you know, walking.
During that era in Europe there was also a focus on men’s ability to become equal citizens
through rational thinking, which made fancy clothing less appealing.
So, the high heel began to be cast as inherently feminine because it was viewed as impractical.
But heels weren’t always the most popular footwear and about 50 years after men kicked
high heels to the curb, women also started to eschew the fancy footwear at the end of
the French Revolution (and I really hope you appreciate that very “subtle” word play.)
And it wasn’t until the mid 19th century that the heel made a comeback for women…
but not as general fashion.
The reemergence actually had to do with the invention of the camera because heels were
often used in women’s fashion photography.
But some of those connections were about style and some were about sexuality.
That’s because, early erotic photographers were some of the first folks to embrace the
reemergence of the heel on women in suggestive photographs.
And during World War II, we saw a surge in popularity of the stiletto heel, perhaps because
the expansion of steel technology made the spiky shoes a little more stable.
Which is a good thing, since that skinny little stick has to support the weight of your entire body.
But a bigger part of the popularity of the stilettos in the 40s and 50s, was women’s
desire to mirror the fashions of popular wartime pinups.
And if you take a look, you can even see high heels on the side of World War II planes.
So heels for women became coded as attractive and desirable, even outside of any signifier
of class status or the ability to ride a horse while shooting a bow and arrow.
And throughout the 20th and 21st century, heels continued to boom in popularity as a
sign of poise and feminine charm.
So how does it all add up?
Well before they were high fashion, heels had a pretty practical function for horse riders.
But once they became linked to sexuality and femininity in the late 19th century and into
the 20th century, the heel took something of a turn.
Now there are studies that suggest that women who wear high heels are viewed as more sexually
attractive and more powerful in the workplace by straight men.
But considering that high heels started explicitly as men’s fashion it’s interesting to question
how much of those ideas are culturally coded rationalizations versus objective scientific fact.
But heels can also have a down side, since walking on your toes can cause undue stress
on the joints and physical discomfort after wearing them for a long amount of time, especially
if your weight isn’t distributed evenly throughout your foot.
Which is now raising questions about high heels being mandated as a part of work uniforms
for women across the country.
And love ‘em or hate ‘em, it looks like heels are going to be around for a while.
But who knows, maybe they’ll swing back into fashion for guys.
So what do you think?
Anything to add to our history of the heel and its unexpected gender flip?
Let us know down in the comments, and if you enjoy Origin of Everything and want to make
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Hi guys, thanks for all of your feedback on last week’s episode “tracing the evolution
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