The first high heel was worn by the horseback warriors around the ninth century. The then used heel was reportedly developed for riding, to keep the rider’s foot from slipping out because of the stirrups. Additionally, it helped to hold the rider stable when standing up in the stirrups and shooting arrows.
In 1599, a group of Persian representatives visited Europe to obtain allies to help Persia defeat the Ottoman Empire. Western European aristocrats embraced a craze for Persian culture developed as an outcome and Persian-style high heeled shoes.
Kings wore high heels
The shoes became a status symbol, and the heels are customized to make the men look taller. A king being shorter was not perfect for his ego; therefore, Louis took measures to make himself look taller than average. He often wore a four-inch high heel and drew battle scenes on it and switched to having red heels in his shoes. Now, it became a simple matter of looking at the color of a man’s heels to find out if he was in the king’s inner circle.
Women took to heels to show equality
Not to be outdone, girls of the 1600s started wearing heels as a means of showing their equality. Women cut their hair, added epaulets. They would smoke pipes, and they would wear very masculine hats.
Higher fashion is adapted into affordable versions, as usually happens and filters down to the less fortunate. The lower classes began to wear heels. The elite responded by making their heels higher to keep the distinction of being class, the higher the heel, the more expensive the shoe. They also started to differentiate heels for women into two kinds – chunky heels for men and skinny heels for women.
Men got away from the heels almost entirely to demonstrate their distinction from girls. When Western guys on the entire stopped trying to beautify themselves, starting at the tail end of the 18th century.
For a time, women drifted away from the heels where heels were impossible to walk in, as it was not practical on cobblestone or muddy style of streets. They were not gone long. The heels came back into style in the mid-19th century. Pornographers are among the first to make the most of heels, as it seems to happen when new technology introduces they are among the first to adopt photography. In regards to high heels because they often dressed versions for risqué postcards and other photos in nothing but a “contemporary” version of the heels.
Take away
Since then, high heels have come in and out of fashion except for the trade, where they are constant. In the 1980s and 90s, heels made a comeback. Their turn has been taken by Numerous styled heels on runways like a mule in the 70s and the stiletto’s fashionable block heel