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I was born in 1957 and as a child I remember my mother asking guests to remove their stiletto heels in our house. She had learnt that they dented the flooring.
I found so many articles about schools and other buildings banning stiletto heels in the 1960s! Seems to be an overlap of older flooring styles and the modern heel materials. I haven't seen the problem with most current flooring at least!
@@NicoleRudolphi have. If someone lays tile floors poorly and leaves air bubbles under the tiles you can absolutely walk over them with heels and break the tile. Its cause the weight is distributed on a tiny point and the air bubble underneath allows the tile to flex and since tile doesn't flex....crack
On my wedding day, my stiletto heel got stuck between the floor boards of a restaurant terrace where we were having a brunch. I was hopping like a bunny until my farther freed me.😂
My mom worked in a bank in Boston in the early 1950s. She said these heels were constantly getting caught in grates on the sidewalk. Any cobbler you passed would have a line of women standing outside the shop with hips askew and a detached heel in one hand.
Every commuting woman I know, regardless of where they live, pops their heels in their bag and wears ballet flats or loafers or sneakers for their commute. It's just safer, especially in northern climes with their bad weather & worse streets/sidewalks.
My mother worked in Chicago before I was born in 1956. She said there was a cobbler right next to the bridge with grates that she had to cross on her way to work. In those days women wore the stilettos from home to work. They wouldn’t even think to wear flats to work. Cobbler got her business to fix a broken heel at least once a month.
I agree, any time a company claims that their founder invented a product, what really happened is that the founder made one or two tweaks to a product that already existed, or the founder figured out a way to mass produce an existing product so that their version was the one that the average person could afford.
Side-eying Isaac Singer lol, to this day Singer's website has a page on the company's history where they start with his inventing the first "practical" sewing machine! Lots of drama around that back in the day, if you haven't seen Abby Cox's video on the history of the sewing machine I absolutely recommend it.
Ahhh, that's what happened to yuumei with the cat headphones. (people like to say she didn't invent them but I followed her process over several years since the beginning when us fans were like: if you made it, we will buy it. So she did and it was extremely hard, and then it got stolen by everyone. It was a fun thing for her fans and then just became incredibly depressing. She wanted to make it completely ethically produced but was lied to by somebody she relied on during the project and then before releasing it people already released similar products stealing her design nearly exactly) I dunno who to blame for this stuff but this is why I like buying handmade stuff because I don't know whose hearts were broken to make the item I just bought...
Ahhh, that's what happened to yuumei with the cat headphones. (people like to say she didn't invent them but I followed her process over several years since the beginning when us fans were like: if you made it, we will buy it. So she did and it was extremely hard, and then it got stolen by everyone. It was a fun thing for her fans and then just became incredibly depressing. She wanted to make it completely ethically produced but was lied to by somebody she relied on during the project and then before releasing it people already released similar products stealing her design nearly exactly) I dunno who to blame for this stuff but this is why I like buying handmade stuff because I don't know whose hearts were broken to make the item I just bought...
The house I grew up in in the 1960s had a beautiful oak parquet floor in the hallway - which had been ruined by stiletto heels 😢 There were little round dents all over it. My parents covered it with cork tiles as it was beyond repair, but I really missed the beauty of what it could have been.
When platform shoes were the rage back in the 1970's, I once fell off my front porch as I was leaving for work because my ankle twisted. Never wore them again! 😄
@@stephaniecowans3646 I can't imagine wearing platform heels. I'm within a decade younger than you and nowadays I need to wear shoes that are flexible enough I can feel the edge of the stairs.
Your 1920s Perugia shoes are so pretty! As a short-ish person, I used to wear stilettos a lot. More than once, I got one heel stuck in a grate, or a particularly deep sidewalk crack, and when I tried to yank it out, the heel came off the shoe! I had to limp home with one very long leg and one very short one. It was hilarious in retrospect. They can be very pretty shoes, but they aren't great for walking.
I always love the example pictures you provide in these videos, they're such a visual treat. As someone who likes high heels, they're really fun to wear sometimes even if they're not my regular set of flats I opt for the most. They're truly fashionable.
Yes, some of the archive photos are amazing! I had to stop wearing high heels at the job I currently have because they just weren't practical (lots of walking and the tile floors actually caused the heel caps to wear out faster). I no longer have the "muscle memory" to know how to walk in high heels.
That would be a long video as it would not have been a one size fits all effect. My ears pricked up when Nicole talked about restrictions to heels in Britian due to rationing. I had never thought of that.
@@sublimnalphish7232 Wafuku/kimono is still around in Japan. Japan is one of the few countries that still has a unbroken line of daily wear for their regional style clothing. It is a subculture today and they make up a tiny part of culture as a whole, but it is there. Also the occupation of Japan after WWII had little inpact on the switch from mainly using Japanese local fashion and into mainly using modern global fashion. The switch was a 80 year long process starting in the late 1880s and going on all the way to the 1960s. The switch happened mostly because of Industrialisation and in that way it mirrors many European nations who all had national localised fashion that was phased out during the 18th and 19th century because of Industrialisation. There are still some use around Europe of those clothes, but as opposed to Japan it has become fossilised and are only used for certain occasions.
I'm only at the begining of the video but regarding the name "stiletto", it is kind of funny that French designers are credited for the term "stiletto" because in french we do not say "stiletto". We say "talon aiguille", which littrraly translates as "needle heel", less badass than a dagger but funny enough for seamstresses 😅
The one at 17:10 looks like my mother’s wedding shoes. Clear plastic vamp, and a clear plastic heel. As a kid in the 1960’s I wore the heck out of those shoes in dress up play! Mom complained that being pregnant with me made her feet too big to wear the shoes anymore (which I believe, since it happened to my feet in pregnancy too.) But she had tiny feet, pre-pregnancy, around a 5 1/2 US if I recall correctly. Those were the PERFECT “Cinderella” shoes’ 😂
Just like the major fairy story of how Diane Von Furstenburg "invented" the wrap dress we all know & love in the 1970s. Funny how it was a staple called the surplice in the 1940s & worn commonly in plates, home movies & magazines back to the 1920s. You know, now that archaeologists have discovered needles proving that we humans have been sewing for at least 120,000 years, it really wouldn't surprise me if they found evidence proving that some 'iconic fashion inventions' were really just regurgitations from the stone age LOL.
This is why I adore your work Nicole, I didn't know how interesting the search for the stiletto heel design would be and yet when you presented it I was really enjoying the lesson. Thank you for your work and thank you for sharing it for free on this platform. It is so gratefully received.
I just saw a Tiktok on how deadly the stiletto heel is when used as a weapon. It’s funny that the heel shares the name with a dagger. I am absolutely ready to go down this historical rabbit hole, and I loved your video!!
The idea that a light bulb lights up and a person has an amazing idea that changes the world all at once is such a myth. Perhaps we should never ask who invented something but instead, who popularized it.
There are occasional exceptions, where asking who invented it is very much worth it because it shines light on forgotten people worth remembering; but even then, the story usually involves a lot more thinking and work than just a lightbulb moment. 😅
True that inventions often require a lot of hard work and are not just a spark of inspiration - but the inventors who put the effort in do still deserve the credit for their work.
I’ve always loved the sleek look of a 3”+ stiletto heel. My problem is that when I shopped for one, the display is usually a size 6 and looks really high and I am almost always disappointed when I ask for one in my size 10. I know the heel is the same height, but the size of the shoe changes the visual proportion. It just doesn’t look as high. I hope I’m making sense. Equally, this also makes me wonder if a smaller shoe can even accommodate the 3”+ heel?
I wear a size 5, and while I have never wanted to wear a stiletto heel, I have tried to buy regular heels, and it is really difficult to find heels of any height in a size 5, unless you wear a narrow width, and even then, they are difficult to find outside of specialty shoe vendors!
At a US woman's size 6 1/2, and since I have very good balance, I could probably wear stiletto heels with minimal problem. I'm short and could use the extra height, too. Except ... my feet are extremely wide, EEE, maybe wider. They don't make *any* heels in my width, let alone super high stilettos. Fortunately, I've found a good source for cute, stylish "barefoot" shoes that fit my hobbit feet. While they're completely flat, at least they fit. And they're nice enough to work with my downtown office dresses and skirts.
They seem to use the same height heel whether it’s a size 6 or a size 12. You put a shorter foot on a three inch heel and the foot arch is much steeper, therefore making it more painful and stressful on the foot. It was one of the reasons I had to give them up. It’s embarrassing falling off your shoes, lol.
The heel height does increase slightly with shoe size, interestingly enough! Usually the most common range of womens sizes (US) 6-11 has 3 or 4 different heel moulds. It's not a big difference, but it does help with extreme heights!
I've always wondered if there's a strict definition between kitten heel, pump, and stiletto in terms of height. My mom always said under 1.5in it's a kitten heel. Taller than that but under 3in, and it was a pump. Over 3in, it's a stiletto. Obviously this doesn't include wedge heels or obviously chunky heels. My mom also called anything over 5in, "sh*tkickers* LoL
@Chaotic_Pixie, as a student of podiatry, shoe design and fashion history in the context of Anthropology, I concur with your mom that a “kitten heel” is a narrow or slender heel shorter than 1.5 inches. The term, “pump“ has nothing to do with heel height. The technical definition of pump is a closed toe, closed heel slip-on shoe with no laces or other fasteners. That definition has somewhat evolved to include pumps that have added straps primarily as adornment details, not as fasteners. This would include ankle straps, instep straps, and T-straps, that also fall under the heading of “maryjanes“. Slender, single-sole high heels, 100 cm (3 ⁷/₈ inches) or taller can generally be categorized as spike or stiletto heels.
Interesting. I always thought, 'kitten heel' specifically refers to those heels, that are narrow in the middle, but flare out at the bottom again. I did a quick Google picture search though, and no doubt you're correct! It's indeed about the height. I agree though, that a 'pump' can come with different types of heels. I live in a city with lots of cobblestone, so most of my pumps have more of a narrow block heel.
In the quest for being stylish and fashionable I wonder how many women developed foot/ankle/knee problems? In high school, the step mother of my then bestie wore that kind of shoe for her work and this must have gone on from the 60's to the 70's. The woman's calf muscles had atrophied to the point where she was unable to wear any kind of flat or sandal or bedroom slipper. Another tale: several years ago, I was summonsed for jury duty where the case was where 2 girls at a club had gotten into a physical altercation where the charges now brought were "assault with a deadly weapon" . The weapon? the accused had taken off her stiletto pumps and was charged with using one of them in an attempt to attack the plaintiff. Sadly, I was excused from the panel during the voir dire process, so I didn't get to hear the case. Never have I more wanted to be on that jury to find out how that resolved.
You should be able to find it, as most court cases are a matter of public record unless they involve a minor. In Australia we have websites like Austlii and Westlaw that record our case law. Your jurisdiction should have similar sources.
I'm curious, isn't the issue with wearing high heels, that the tendons will shorten? Atrophied muscles sound unlikely to me, as you do need a good amount of tension in all your leg muscles, to keep your balance while walking and standing in heels. Or did she really have visibly shrunken and thin calf muscles?
I worked in a shoe shop when I was younger and the area manager had so many issues with her feet. A lot of retail staff in general regardless of what shoes they wear have a tonne of problems. But nearly constant surgeries to deal with issues from heels is just insane. Personally I like a solid stompy boot for my retail work. 😅
@@gray_mara She would be able to find out. In a small place sometimes the result was printed in the news. Often you have to subscribe to a service to pay for a printout. This is the easiest, online thing. It's easier if you know the name of the Plaintiff and the opposition. I suppose you could go to the court and look at the record for free, probably only 9-5 or so Monday through Friday. She could have sat through the trial, also 9 or 10 to Noon, Two to Four for a few days, depending. Your employer has to give you the time for Jury Duty and the nice ones make up the difference between Jury Duty Pay and your usual pay. We have WestLaw too. It might be in LexisNexis. I suppose I would go to a Public University library and ask a reference Librarian.
Interesting that delman dior would call their stilettos heels "needle heels" given that's how we call stilettos in french "talons aiguilles". I don't know the history of the term though but it's intriging ! Great video, thank you for sharing all this research and knowledge ❤
That one shoe with the crazy scrollwork was amazing, so creative. I live in Canada and I visited the Bata Shoe Museum once a long time ago. Definitely time for a return trip! Thanks for the inspiration.
I remember seeing my grandmother's toes, deformed and shoved permanently into an arrow-point from the fashions of her era. The toes were shoved over/under/against one another to form these points, and the ball of the foot was protruded in comparison. My mother used to say, "If your feet didn't hurt, you weren't having fun!"
“Modern” foot-binding. There is an argument to be made that all these ridiculous high heels with pointy toes are, like foot binding, a way to sacrifice women’s freedom and comfort on the altar of fashion and “beauty.” We humans can do such weird things to ourselves. And yes, I am aware that high heels began as a male fashion item. They didn’t stay that way, though.
I have seen feet like this on an older woman and it is absolutely a cautionary tale. I was already on my barefoot/foot widening journey but watching this woman fall and break a hip solidified my commitment. I have kept some of my old no longer fitting shoes only in the hope that I will one day remake them for actual feet.
I have those problems! Though I don’t feel THAT old. 😂 It’s improved a good bit after years of wearing flat shoes (heels and vertigo are not good), but my toes still point like the shoes and tuck under a little bit. “Women wear high heels, only the elderly wear flats” was a societal norm that I wish had never taken hold.
My grandmother's feet were like that and my aunt had surgery to break her toes and straighten them back out. I was in college in the mid-90's and bought Birkenstocks the moment I saw my toes start to angle in. Thankfully, crisis averted...my toes are completely straight.
My grandma always says that my feet aren't pretty because they're "growing wild". I'm barefoot a lot since I was a child, I spent a few years between Mary Janes and Crocs, and now I mostly wear running shoes. So, all around not much compression. I'm lucky if I can find heeled shoes that don't painfully squish my foot and toes.
I was born in 1954 and I know my mom had a couple of high heels she called spike heels. Maybe it's a regional thing. One thing I remember for sure is that they must have been very uncomfortable because she never put them on until she was ready to walk out the door, and she took them off the moment she got back in the house.
I didn't know the blade design was a creation from André Perugia, because it is such a high end design nowadays popularized by Casadei. I really thought they invented this style of silhouette and now I'm conflicted lol great work, nicole!
I've never liked high heels at all, but it's fascinating to hear about its history. Thank you for taking time to research the subject and bring it to us. Your videos are always interesting and entertaining.
I think learning things like this are much more interesting than 'this one guy created it' because it shows the progression of humans and reminds us that nothing is created in a vacuum.
Having a steel rod go through the whole heel was pretty important. I had a pair of “stiletto” heels in high school. They were black, and I wore them with my Jazz Choir outfit. I think I wore them only a handful of times before the heel collapsed, because there was no support through the whole heel! They had a short piece of metal at the bottom, but the rest was a kind of plastic that was not fully rigid, and wasn’t up to the job. It was quite disconcerting to try to walk and have the heel go “squish” under me!
The irony that it's a big deal when male presenting pop stars (like Harry Styles) wear high heels when that was what every fashionable man used to wear. Like it was the dress code
Those imaged shoes are works of art. However walking in them transcends my abilities.The only way I can wear any heels over 2 inches is to choose a shoe (preferably a short boot) with at least a 1/2 - 1 inch+ platform on the sole. How anyone can walk in stiletto heels is a mystery to me. I see models wearing seemingly impossible shoes. They walk down stairs with no bannister and they do not face plant. How? I wish I could emulate their balance, but not in my DNA.
I love your fascinating and informative videos, especially when you cover shoes, because it's so interesting and you really do your research! As a tall woman with problematic feet, shoes have always been a difficult part of my life. Most of the styles that have been "standard" for well-dressed women in my lifetime have been not only rarely available in my size, but also extremely painful to wear. Now that I'm older I can't really imagine forcing myself to wear anything taller than an inch, but many of my memories from important events in my life, including my own wedding, are marred by the memory of painful feet and just desperately wanting to get out of horrible shoes like the ones you discuss in this video. I wonder how many other women have effectively missed out on important things in their lives because of this pain in order to conform to the expected fashion? Or maybe it's just me, and they aren't that bad for most?
Heels do have a tendency to be harsher on feet, especially if they're not the right size, width, arch depth. I think that your height may also be a factor as you probably have bigger feet along with more weight being applied those feet. Heels are as in fashion as they were 20+ years ago, with more casual sneakers taking over.
It’s definitely not just you. I’ve met plenty of women who ABHOR heels, find them incredibly uncomfortable and can’t imagine walking in them everyday. As someone who does wear heels almost every day and loves heels, I sometimes feel like I’m more of the exception! I’ve met more people who hate heels than people who love them haha But not every heel is made the same! I don’t wear heels that hurt me haha the ones I wear are more comfortable. I love ankle booties the most!
I LOVE your fashion history videos. They are my absolute favorites and I very much appreciate all the time and effort you put into each one. Thank you!
I never even tried stillettos! In my over 30 years Ive had 3 pairs of heels. I got rid of them all in a recent clear out- Life is too short for shoes that hurt, cause damage to my joints and restrict my movement.
I have a question: What has prompted the shift in modern heel designs towards straight styled heel departing from the comfortable, curved heels popular in the 1960s? It's disheartening to observe that stilettos with the beloved curved heel have become increasingly scarce in the market. 😢😢
It's unfortunate that, because it is in video form, this information probably won't make its way into the inevitable future articles on the topic, since it won't show up in the search results they regurgitate.
I have large, long feet for a woman. I love my feet! Finding shoes too fit throughout my life isn't easy. I keep going back to shorter heals. And styles from the 30's and 40's just seem to suit my feet.
Dear Nicole, having just discovered your channel, l'm binge watching all the great research you did. Has anyone yet popped these 1920s beauties into an Xray machine?
It's frustrating how much common history is just wrong or exaggerated to provide a neat and tidy narrative about how one person or one event made everything. Thankfully we have historians like you to clear the record and remind us all that fashion change tends to happen slowly, over time, and is social.
I once got a pair of stilettos from a 2nd hand store for a costume. Imagine putting your foot in the most extreme "Barbie" shape and then trying to walk. I ended up sitting down for most of the party and threw those shoes away afterwards. They were covered in red suade that had a snakeskin print and some lightening bolt zigzag cuts on the side. Probably from the 80's. They looked brand new...original owner probably couldn't walk in them either. My feet hurt just thinking about them.
Hi Nicole! I know you’re a fiend for accuracy, so I wanted to let you know that Wilshire is pronounced Will-Shure in LA 👍 absolutely amazing video, you always shock me with your thoroughness of research
i wish youtube was a friendlier environment for a video on the history of fetish heels and the ways they've influenced mainstream shoemaking :( most of the extremely high heels I've seen from before the 1950s have been labeled as fetish heels and they're so gorgeous and something I'd love to know more about, but i imagine that any video on them would be immediately demonetized just for mentioning about that side of fashion history.
I have a pair of shoes that I inherited from a fancy lady in London. I'm sure they don't have a steel shank and they are in much need of repair (one shoe has gone floppy across the width at shank). I have no information about them and would love to know a bit more.
I am curious about where the centre (vertically) of the shoe heel fits the foot heel (if that makes any sense) - I've seen modern high heels where the heel is set right at the back of the shoe but all the ones you show have it further forward.
I think the older styles with the heel placed farther forward are easier to walk in. The modern heel all the way at the back of the shoe is just for looks.
There is an older video, where she talks about this. The old fashioned way of placing the heel is apparently indeed far more appropriate in terms of balance and comfort.
Thanks for the video. Someone else may have pointed out that the determining factor for the thickness of airplane aisle aluminum decks was women's stiletto heels. Personal language creep peeve: Kitten Heel company has gone out of business. But back in the day a Kitten heel was 1" or less. (I don't think they went over an inch, but they might have had something like an 1-1/4". Regular high heels were 2-5/8 or less. So it annoys me that regulars 2-5/8 inch heels are being called kitten. My feet are 7.5 to 8 US size and I don't think I could have worn a 3" heel comfortably, using them to walk around town and on dirt paths. The also came in double last. B/A so they could be B at the front and A at the back. This kept them on and avoided the huge (and silly looking) space you see at the wearers heel back on some of the newer shoes. Part of the space may be that the wearer has never had the shoe properly fit.
I wonder how hard times affected the shoes we chose to purchase. 🤔 Or maybe it didn’t 🤷🏽♀️ War and economic downturn… if we can’t purchase as many things then how does that affect what we buy?
My grandmothers were both young women in WWII. They both had corns and bunions constantly and ended up having toes amputated in their 60s-80s because of the damage wearing ill fitting shoes through their early working lives (as a nurse and cleaner so long days on their feet) Sometimes they couldn't get properly fitting shoes due to shortages and restrictions, later as they had families it was a matter of what they could afford- especially as one was over 6ft tall and that made finding affordable shoes that actually fit even more expensive.
Although, I really don't like this outcome but it is true. The little money that women do make is spent on physical enhancements and fashion. Things that don't enrich our lives, only change our appearance. Even in dire times, manifestation and all other forms delusion skyrocket. The fantasy that it will all end soon.
My mom used to think it was super funny how bad I was at walking in heels (she's still with us, I just don't try anymore lmao)... I figured it was just one more way I failed at being feminine. Come to find out in my 30s that my arches are so high that damn near only the heels and balls of my feet touch the ground *anyway* and I've always needed orthotics. People had just convinced me that constant, severe foot pain and crap balance was somehow normal. For decades! Crazy.
In Polish, in hmmm colloquial speech, this type of heels (and both shoes with this heels type) are called "szpilki" (in english needles) - it is interesting that it probably comes prom Dior.. Other heels, in your movie mentioned as stiletto in my language are called just "obcasy" (in english heels), and they have types just as low, high, ducky, bricks etc. But nope, needle heels aren't thing in my language, they are a different THING, not just heels :D.
I now have a burning need to know when and how pumps came out of the night and took over daytime footwear for women, and I cannot find out anything about it anywhere.
It would have to be the materials and the manufacturers first, because you can design whatever you want but if no one can make it it's just a sketch. The copywriters are the ones who really created the name.
I'm a 48 year old woman, that is wearing velcro surgical ortho shoes, at this point. With tendonitis, he'll spur, bone degeneration and calcification, I love shoes. Pain, podiatry and ugly shoes are my life now. Btwn being a dancer from and early age and mixed connective tissue disorder, feet.... RIP. I digress....The early shoes you show look like they are made to caress and support a human foot, and beautifully with comfort. Shoes now??? Who's foot are they for????👽
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I was born in 1957 and as a child I remember my mother asking guests to remove their stiletto heels in our house. She had learnt that they dented the flooring.
Your mom sounds uptight
I found so many articles about schools and other buildings banning stiletto heels in the 1960s! Seems to be an overlap of older flooring styles and the modern heel materials. I haven't seen the problem with most current flooring at least!
@@NicoleRudolphi have. If someone lays tile floors poorly and leaves air bubbles under the tiles you can absolutely walk over them with heels and break the tile. Its cause the weight is distributed on a tiny point and the air bubble underneath allows the tile to flex and since tile doesn't flex....crack
On my wedding day, my stiletto heel got stuck between the floor boards of a restaurant terrace where we were having a brunch. I was hopping like a bunny until my farther freed me.😂
Same in my parent's house (in Germany) with it's old flooring of softwood (pine or something the like).
My mom worked in a bank in Boston in the early 1950s. She said these heels were constantly getting caught in grates on the sidewalk. Any cobbler you passed would have a line of women standing outside the shop with hips askew and a detached heel in one hand.
Lived in Boston most of my 60 years & the cobblestones, & cracked sidewalks, sewer grates, etc. are still there !
Now good luck finding a cobbler...
Every commuting woman I know, regardless of where they live, pops their heels in their bag and wears ballet flats or loafers or sneakers for their commute. It's just safer, especially in northern climes with their bad weather & worse streets/sidewalks.
My mother worked in Chicago before I was born in 1956. She said there was a cobbler right next to the bridge with grates that she had to cross on her way to work. In those days women wore the stilettos from home to work. They wouldn’t even think to wear flats to work. Cobbler got her business to fix a broken heel at least once a month.
Ironically I wore stiletto and high heels all the way through college in the midwest because I used them as ice picks in the winter!
@@NicoleRudolph 😂
I agree, any time a company claims that their founder invented a product, what really happened is that the founder made one or two tweaks to a product that already existed, or the founder figured out a way to mass produce an existing product so that their version was the one that the average person could afford.
which is nice that the company did make said product more accessible; but that doesn’t made they made the original creation; one without modifications
Side-eying Isaac Singer lol, to this day Singer's website has a page on the company's history where they start with his inventing the first "practical" sewing machine! Lots of drama around that back in the day, if you haven't seen Abby Cox's video on the history of the sewing machine I absolutely recommend it.
Ahhh, that's what happened to yuumei with the cat headphones.
(people like to say she didn't invent them but I followed her process over several years since the beginning when us fans were like: if you made it, we will buy it. So she did and it was extremely hard, and then it got stolen by everyone. It was a fun thing for her fans and then just became incredibly depressing. She wanted to make it completely ethically produced but was lied to by somebody she relied on during the project and then before releasing it people already released similar products stealing her design nearly exactly)
I dunno who to blame for this stuff but this is why I like buying handmade stuff because I don't know whose hearts were broken to make the item I just bought...
Ahhh, that's what happened to yuumei with the cat headphones.
(people like to say she didn't invent them but I followed her process over several years since the beginning when us fans were like: if you made it, we will buy it. So she did and it was extremely hard, and then it got stolen by everyone. It was a fun thing for her fans and then just became incredibly depressing. She wanted to make it completely ethically produced but was lied to by somebody she relied on during the project and then before releasing it people already released similar products stealing her design nearly exactly)
I dunno who to blame for this stuff but this is why I like buying handmade stuff because I don't know whose hearts were broken to make the item I just bought...
The house I grew up in in the 1960s had a beautiful oak parquet floor in the hallway - which had been ruined by stiletto heels 😢 There were little round dents all over it. My parents covered it with cork tiles as it was beyond repair, but I really missed the beauty of what it could have been.
oh no!
My mother wore stiletto heels in the 1950s onwards with “beehive” hairstyle making her well over 6 feet tall.
Fascinating discussion on the history of stilettos! I'm still going to call them "ankle-breakers", though.
When platform shoes were the rage back in the 1970's, I once fell off my front porch as I was leaving for work because my ankle twisted. Never wore them again! 😄
@@stephaniecowans3646 I can't imagine wearing platform heels. I'm within a decade younger than you and nowadays I need to wear shoes that are flexible enough I can feel the edge of the stairs.
Your 1920s Perugia shoes are so pretty!
As a short-ish person, I used to wear stilettos a lot. More than once, I got one heel stuck in a grate, or a particularly deep sidewalk crack, and when I tried to yank it out, the heel came off the shoe! I had to limp home with one very long leg and one very short one. It was hilarious in retrospect. They can be very pretty shoes, but they aren't great for walking.
I always love the example pictures you provide in these videos, they're such a visual treat. As someone who likes high heels, they're really fun to wear sometimes even if they're not my regular set of flats I opt for the most. They're truly fashionable.
Yes, some of the archive photos are amazing! I had to stop wearing high heels at the job I currently have because they just weren't practical (lots of walking and the tile floors actually caused the heel caps to wear out faster). I no longer have the "muscle memory" to know how to walk in high heels.
Please consider doing a video on how WW1 and WW2 changed women’s fashion
I'm a guy 😂 yes please
It's important to do it not western-exclusively
The impact of WWII on Russians and on the Americans for example, was very different
@@annasolovyeva1013it also changed Japans fashion very much. They still had Kimono's , Obe's and geisha's until we "liberated" them.....🤨
That would be a long video as it would not have been a one size fits all effect. My ears pricked up when Nicole talked about restrictions to heels in Britian due to rationing. I had never thought of that.
@@sublimnalphish7232 Wafuku/kimono is still around in Japan. Japan is one of the few countries that still has a unbroken line of daily wear for their regional style clothing. It is a subculture today and they make up a tiny part of culture as a whole, but it is there. Also the occupation of Japan after WWII had little inpact on the switch from mainly using Japanese local fashion and into mainly using modern global fashion. The switch was a 80 year long process starting in the late 1880s and going on all the way to the 1960s. The switch happened mostly because of Industrialisation and in that way it mirrors many European nations who all had national localised fashion that was phased out during the 18th and 19th century because of Industrialisation. There are still some use around Europe of those clothes, but as opposed to Japan it has become fossilised and are only used for certain occasions.
I'm only at the begining of the video but regarding the name "stiletto", it is kind of funny that French designers are credited for the term "stiletto" because in french we do not say "stiletto". We say "talon aiguille", which littrraly translates as "needle heel", less badass than a dagger but funny enough for seamstresses 😅
Gurl always bring a strong research game.. and we profoundly thank thee
The one at 17:10 looks like my mother’s wedding shoes. Clear plastic vamp, and a clear plastic heel. As a kid in the 1960’s I wore the heck out of those shoes in dress up play! Mom complained that being pregnant with me made her feet too big to wear the shoes anymore (which I believe, since it happened to my feet in pregnancy too.) But she had tiny feet, pre-pregnancy, around a 5 1/2 US if I recall correctly. Those were the PERFECT “Cinderella” shoes’ 😂
Just like the major fairy story of how Diane Von Furstenburg "invented" the wrap dress we all know & love in the 1970s. Funny how it was a staple called the surplice in the 1940s & worn commonly in plates, home movies & magazines back to the 1920s. You know, now that archaeologists have discovered needles proving that we humans have been sewing for at least 120,000 years, it really wouldn't surprise me if they found evidence proving that some 'iconic fashion inventions' were really just regurgitations from the stone age LOL.
This is why I adore your work Nicole, I didn't know how interesting the search for the stiletto heel design would be and yet when you presented it I was really enjoying the lesson. Thank you for your work and thank you for sharing it for free on this platform. It is so gratefully received.
I just saw a Tiktok on how deadly the stiletto heel is when used as a weapon. It’s funny that the heel shares the name with a dagger. I am absolutely ready to go down this historical rabbit hole, and I loved your video!!
The idea that a light bulb lights up and a person has an amazing idea that changes the world all at once is such a myth. Perhaps we should never ask who invented something but instead, who popularized it.
great point!
There are occasional exceptions, where asking who invented it is very much worth it because it shines light on forgotten people worth remembering; but even then, the story usually involves a lot more thinking and work than just a lightbulb moment. 😅
True that inventions often require a lot of hard work and are not just a spark of inspiration - but the inventors who put the effort in do still deserve the credit for their work.
I’ve always loved the sleek look of a 3”+ stiletto heel. My problem is that when I shopped for one, the display is usually a size 6 and looks really high and I am almost always disappointed when I ask for one in my size 10. I know the heel is the same height, but the size of the shoe changes the visual proportion. It just doesn’t look as high.
I hope I’m making sense.
Equally, this also makes me wonder if a smaller shoe can even accommodate the 3”+ heel?
I wear a size 5, and while I have never wanted to wear a stiletto heel, I have tried to buy regular heels, and it is really difficult to find heels of any height in a size 5, unless you wear a narrow width, and even then, they are difficult to find outside of specialty shoe vendors!
At a US woman's size 6 1/2, and since I have very good balance, I could probably wear stiletto heels with minimal problem. I'm short and could use the extra height, too.
Except ... my feet are extremely wide, EEE, maybe wider. They don't make *any* heels in my width, let alone super high stilettos.
Fortunately, I've found a good source for cute, stylish "barefoot" shoes that fit my hobbit feet. While they're completely flat, at least they fit. And they're nice enough to work with my downtown office dresses and skirts.
They seem to use the same height heel whether it’s a size 6 or a size 12. You put a shorter foot on a three inch heel and the foot arch is much steeper, therefore making it more painful and stressful on the foot. It was one of the reasons I had to give them up. It’s embarrassing falling off your shoes, lol.
The heel height does increase slightly with shoe size, interestingly enough! Usually the most common range of womens sizes (US) 6-11 has 3 or 4 different heel moulds. It's not a big difference, but it does help with extreme heights!
@@NicoleRudolph Really? Thanks, I learned something! And here I always thought I was being punished for having large feet.🤣
I've always wondered if there's a strict definition between kitten heel, pump, and stiletto in terms of height. My mom always said under 1.5in it's a kitten heel. Taller than that but under 3in, and it was a pump. Over 3in, it's a stiletto. Obviously this doesn't include wedge heels or obviously chunky heels. My mom also called anything over 5in, "sh*tkickers* LoL
@Chaotic_Pixie, as a student of podiatry, shoe design and fashion history in the context of Anthropology, I concur with your mom that a “kitten heel” is a narrow or slender heel shorter than 1.5 inches.
The term, “pump“ has nothing to do with heel height. The technical definition of pump is a closed toe, closed heel slip-on shoe with no laces or other fasteners.
That definition has somewhat evolved to include pumps that have added straps primarily as adornment details, not as fasteners. This would include ankle straps, instep straps, and T-straps, that also fall under the heading of “maryjanes“.
Slender, single-sole high heels, 100 cm (3 ⁷/₈ inches) or taller can generally be categorized as spike or stiletto heels.
Interesting. I always thought, 'kitten heel' specifically refers to those heels, that are narrow in the middle, but flare out at the bottom again. I did a quick Google picture search though, and no doubt you're correct! It's indeed about the height.
I agree though, that a 'pump' can come with different types of heels. I live in a city with lots of cobblestone, so most of my pumps have more of a narrow block heel.
Shitkickers, to me has always implied a very sturdy boot, possibly steel-toed.
In the quest for being stylish and fashionable I wonder how many women developed foot/ankle/knee problems? In high school, the step mother of my then bestie wore that kind of shoe for her work and this must have gone on from the 60's to the 70's. The woman's calf muscles had atrophied to the point where she was unable to wear any kind of flat or sandal or bedroom slipper. Another tale: several years ago, I was summonsed for jury duty where the case was where 2 girls at a club had gotten into a physical altercation where the charges now brought were "assault with a deadly weapon" . The weapon? the accused had taken off her stiletto pumps and was charged with using one of them in an attempt to attack the plaintiff. Sadly, I was excused from the panel during the voir dire process, so I didn't get to hear the case. Never have I more wanted to be on that jury to find out how that resolved.
You should be able to find it, as most court cases are a matter of public record unless they involve a minor. In Australia we have websites like Austlii and Westlaw that record our case law. Your jurisdiction should have similar sources.
I'm curious, isn't the issue with wearing high heels, that the tendons will shorten? Atrophied muscles sound unlikely to me, as you do need a good amount of tension in all your leg muscles, to keep your balance while walking and standing in heels.
Or did she really have visibly shrunken and thin calf muscles?
I worked in a shoe shop when I was younger and the area manager had so many issues with her feet. A lot of retail staff in general regardless of what shoes they wear have a tonne of problems. But nearly constant surgeries to deal with issues from heels is just insane. Personally I like a solid stompy boot for my retail work. 😅
@@gray_mara She would be able to find out. In a small place sometimes the result was printed in the news. Often you have to subscribe to a service to pay for a printout. This is the easiest, online thing. It's easier if you know the name of the Plaintiff and the opposition. I suppose you could go to the court and look at the record for free, probably only 9-5 or so Monday through Friday. She could have sat through the trial, also 9 or 10 to Noon, Two to Four for a few days, depending. Your employer has to give you the time for Jury Duty and the nice ones make up the difference between Jury Duty Pay and your usual pay.
We have WestLaw too. It might be in LexisNexis. I suppose I would go to a Public University library and ask a reference Librarian.
@@raraavis7782 actually , you're right -- it must have been the mom's tendons that atrophied, not the muscles.
Interesting that delman dior would call their stilettos heels "needle heels" given that's how we call stilettos in french "talons aiguilles". I don't know the history of the term though but it's intriging !
Great video, thank you for sharing all this research and knowledge ❤
That one shoe with the crazy scrollwork was amazing, so creative. I live in Canada and I visited the Bata Shoe Museum once a long time ago. Definitely time for a return trip! Thanks for the inspiration.
John fluevog makes heels like these. Very funky. Some old medieval looking. Lots of quirk
I remember seeing my grandmother's toes, deformed and shoved permanently into an arrow-point from the fashions of her era. The toes were shoved over/under/against one another to form these points, and the ball of the foot was protruded in comparison.
My mother used to say, "If your feet didn't hurt, you weren't having fun!"
“Modern” foot-binding. There is an argument to be made that all these ridiculous high heels with pointy toes are, like foot binding, a way to sacrifice women’s freedom and comfort on the altar of fashion and “beauty.” We humans can do such weird things to ourselves.
And yes, I am aware that high heels began as a male fashion item. They didn’t stay that way, though.
I have seen feet like this on an older woman and it is absolutely a cautionary tale. I was already on my barefoot/foot widening journey but watching this woman fall and break a hip solidified my commitment. I have kept some of my old no longer fitting shoes only in the hope that I will one day remake them for actual feet.
I have those problems! Though I don’t feel THAT old. 😂 It’s improved a good bit after years of wearing flat shoes (heels and vertigo are not good), but my toes still point like the shoes and tuck under a little bit.
“Women wear high heels, only the elderly wear flats” was a societal norm that I wish had never taken hold.
My grandmother's feet were like that and my aunt had surgery to break her toes and straighten them back out. I was in college in the mid-90's and bought Birkenstocks the moment I saw my toes start to angle in. Thankfully, crisis averted...my toes are completely straight.
My grandma always says that my feet aren't pretty because they're "growing wild". I'm barefoot a lot since I was a child, I spent a few years between Mary Janes and Crocs, and now I mostly wear running shoes. So, all around not much compression.
I'm lucky if I can find heeled shoes that don't painfully squish my foot and toes.
I was born in 1954 and I know my mom had a couple of high heels she called spike heels. Maybe it's a regional thing. One thing I remember for sure is that they must have been very uncomfortable because she never put them on until she was ready to walk out the door, and she took them off the moment she got back in the house.
I didn't know the blade design was a creation from André Perugia, because it is such a high end design nowadays popularized by Casadei. I really thought they invented this style of silhouette and now I'm conflicted lol great work, nicole!
I've never liked high heels at all, but it's fascinating to hear about its history. Thank you for taking time to research the subject and bring it to us. Your videos are always interesting and entertaining.
I think learning things like this are much more interesting than 'this one guy created it' because it shows the progression of humans and reminds us that nothing is created in a vacuum.
Having a steel rod go through the whole heel was pretty important. I had a pair of “stiletto” heels in high school. They were black, and I wore them with my Jazz Choir outfit. I think I wore them only a handful of times before the heel collapsed, because there was no support through the whole heel! They had a short piece of metal at the bottom, but the rest was a kind of plastic that was not fully rigid, and wasn’t up to the job. It was quite disconcerting to try to walk and have the heel go “squish” under me!
The irony that it's a big deal when male presenting pop stars (like Harry Styles) wear high heels when that was what every fashionable man used to wear. Like it was the dress code
Those imaged shoes are works of art. However walking in them transcends my abilities.The only way I can wear any heels over 2 inches is to choose a shoe (preferably a short boot) with at least a 1/2 - 1 inch+ platform on the sole. How anyone can walk in stiletto heels is a mystery to me. I see models wearing seemingly impossible shoes. They walk down stairs with no bannister and they do not face plant. How? I wish I could emulate their balance, but not in my DNA.
Some of those vintage shoes look quite cute. I am not one to wear high heels, but a few of them appealed to me.
I love your fascinating and informative videos, especially when you cover shoes, because it's so interesting and you really do your research! As a tall woman with problematic feet, shoes have always been a difficult part of my life. Most of the styles that have been "standard" for well-dressed women in my lifetime have been not only rarely available in my size, but also extremely painful to wear. Now that I'm older I can't really imagine forcing myself to wear anything taller than an inch, but many of my memories from important events in my life, including my own wedding, are marred by the memory of painful feet and just desperately wanting to get out of horrible shoes like the ones you discuss in this video. I wonder how many other women have effectively missed out on important things in their lives because of this pain in order to conform to the expected fashion? Or maybe it's just me, and they aren't that bad for most?
Heels do have a tendency to be harsher on feet, especially if they're not the right size, width, arch depth. I think that your height may also be a factor as you probably have bigger feet along with more weight being applied those feet. Heels are as in fashion as they were 20+ years ago, with more casual sneakers taking over.
It’s definitely not just you. I’ve met plenty of women who ABHOR heels, find them incredibly uncomfortable and can’t imagine walking in them everyday. As someone who does wear heels almost every day and loves heels, I sometimes feel like I’m more of the exception! I’ve met more people who hate heels than people who love them haha
But not every heel is made the same! I don’t wear heels that hurt me haha the ones I wear are more comfortable. I love ankle booties the most!
I LOVE your fashion history videos. They are my absolute favorites and I very much appreciate all the time and effort you put into each one. Thank you!
With my hyper-mobility, stiletto heels are a death trap. I can roll my ankle in runners if I'm a little distracted.
I never even tried stillettos! In my over 30 years Ive had 3 pairs of heels. I got rid of them all in a recent clear out- Life is too short for shoes that hurt, cause damage to my joints and restrict my movement.
WOW! Glad 2 see U. Found U in 5 min of posting. U've made my morning! Ciao.
I went to Toronto over the summer and visited the Bata Shoe Museum. It was so interesting, highly recommend!
They were banned in historic places and on gymnasium floors until modern plastic varnishes could resist the damage they caused.
I always love your videos. So we'll researched and detailed, and always interesting. Thank you ❤❤
I have a question: What has prompted the shift in modern heel designs towards straight styled heel departing from the comfortable, curved heels popular in the 1960s? It's disheartening to observe that stilettos with the beloved curved heel have become increasingly scarce in the market. 😢😢
It's unfortunate that, because it is in video form, this information probably won't make its way into the inevitable future articles on the topic, since it won't show up in the search results they regurgitate.
I'd sooner dance en pointe, than wear high heels.. But i love the history of them. Thank you!
I have large, long feet for a woman. I love my feet! Finding shoes too fit throughout my life isn't easy. I keep going back to shorter heals. And styles from the 30's and 40's just seem to suit my feet.
This was interesting; thank you for sharing your research.
The Perugia metal sliver Was a real innovation. I truely admire his engineering and style.
Dear Nicole, having just discovered your channel, l'm binge watching all the great research you did. Has anyone yet popped these 1920s beauties into an Xray machine?
Oh the cobbled stones in Vienna's old town are the bane of my existence! I do love stiletto heels over all else, though...
Just in case your wondering: $100 USD 1947 money is the equivalent to $1,370.81 USD of today's money. They were the Pradas of their day.
Unfortunately I am highly allergic to latex so no Birch mattress for me
Another thoughtful and informative video. The bonus is what a lovely creature you are. Stunning.
That Perugia is absolutely gorgeous! The curve from the ball all the way through to the base of the heel show such artistry. Heart eyes all the way.
I absolutely NEED the sleeping gown you are wearing in the Birch Living ad. I need a link
I love shoes and history so this video is right up my alley.
Ver seus vídeos é ter uma aula completa de História! Que carinho o seu em preparar com belíssimas imagens os temas. Gratidão!
Thank you for the history lesson. I love the way you tell stories.
It's frustrating how much common history is just wrong or exaggerated to provide a neat and tidy narrative about how one person or one event made everything. Thankfully we have historians like you to clear the record and remind us all that fashion change tends to happen slowly, over time, and is social.
I really appreciate the incredible quality of your research! Thanks for sharing the nuances behind the flashy headlines.
Stiletto is an Italian word. Except in Italian those heels are called "tacchi a spillo": pin heels.
I once got a pair of stilettos from a 2nd hand store for a costume. Imagine putting your foot in the most extreme "Barbie" shape and then trying to walk. I ended up sitting down for most of the party and threw those shoes away afterwards. They were covered in red suade that had a snakeskin print and some lightening bolt zigzag cuts on the side. Probably from the 80's. They looked brand new...original owner probably couldn't walk in them either. My feet hurt just thinking about them.
Hi Nicole! I know you’re a fiend for accuracy, so I wanted to let you know that Wilshire is pronounced Will-Shure in LA 👍 absolutely amazing video, you always shock me with your thoroughness of research
i wish youtube was a friendlier environment for a video on the history of fetish heels and the ways they've influenced mainstream shoemaking :( most of the extremely high heels I've seen from before the 1950s have been labeled as fetish heels and they're so gorgeous and something I'd love to know more about, but i imagine that any video on them would be immediately demonetized just for mentioning about that side of fashion history.
I have a pair of shoes that I inherited from a fancy lady in London. I'm sure they don't have a steel shank and they are in much need of repair (one shoe has gone floppy across the width at shank). I have no information about them and would love to know a bit more.
Adding that I have narrow feet and am between an EU 42-3.
I loved my Candies brand shoes in the 1970s. The were molded and fit my feet perfectly
always informative!
I love whenever you talk about shoes, gonna be a fun one~
Loved this, very detailed and well researched. Lovely collection of images😊. Watch it again for sure 😊
Excellent work.
Those Perugia shoes you own reminded me of the woman from the movie Inglorious Bastards for some reason. I think she had similar shoes
As far as I know, Roger Vivier created for Dior the "talon virgule", never heard about him being the creator of the stiletto.
3:26 Love those shoes.
I love all the shoes in this video! They have such interesting design features
I am curious about where the centre (vertically) of the shoe heel fits the foot heel (if that makes any sense) - I've seen modern high heels where the heel is set right at the back of the shoe but all the ones you show have it further forward.
I think the older styles with the heel placed farther forward are easier to walk in. The modern heel all the way at the back of the shoe is just for looks.
There is an older video, where she talks about this. The old fashioned way of placing the heel is apparently indeed far more appropriate in terms of balance and comfort.
This was fascinating once again
I love your long essay videos. ❤❤❤❤
Whoever the inventor of the stiletto heel was, they were probably not a woman, and certainly not a podiatrist. 🤔
Yes, I noted all the proposed "inventors" were male names and of locations and era where a man wearing heels would not be the cultural norm.
thank you for this fun and informative video, dear nicole! xoxoxoxoxoxo
Good history work!
Thanks for the video. Someone else may have pointed out that the determining factor for the thickness of airplane aisle aluminum decks was women's stiletto heels.
Personal language creep peeve: Kitten Heel company has gone out of business. But back in the day a Kitten heel was 1" or less. (I don't think they went over an inch, but they might have had something like an 1-1/4". Regular high heels were 2-5/8 or less. So it annoys me that regulars 2-5/8 inch heels are being called kitten.
My feet are 7.5 to 8 US size and I don't think I could have worn a 3" heel comfortably, using them to walk around town and on dirt paths. The also came in double last. B/A so they could be B at the front and A at the back. This kept them on and avoided the huge (and silly looking) space you see at the wearers heel back on some of the newer shoes. Part of the space may be that the wearer has never had the shoe properly fit.
Actually Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier were both working for Dior and are consider the fathers of the stiletto
I wonder how hard times affected the shoes we chose to purchase. 🤔 Or maybe it didn’t 🤷🏽♀️ War and economic downturn… if we can’t purchase as many things then how does that affect what we buy?
My grandmothers were both young women in WWII. They both had corns and bunions constantly and ended up having toes amputated in their 60s-80s because of the damage wearing ill fitting shoes through their early working lives (as a nurse and cleaner so long days on their feet) Sometimes they couldn't get properly fitting shoes due to shortages and restrictions, later as they had families it was a matter of what they could afford- especially as one was over 6ft tall and that made finding affordable shoes that actually fit even more expensive.
Although, I really don't like this outcome but it is true. The little money that women do make is spent on physical enhancements and fashion. Things that don't enrich our lives, only change our appearance. Even in dire times, manifestation and all other forms delusion skyrocket. The fantasy that it will all end soon.
My mom used to think it was super funny how bad I was at walking in heels (she's still with us, I just don't try anymore lmao)... I figured it was just one more way I failed at being feminine. Come to find out in my 30s that my arches are so high that damn near only the heels and balls of my feet touch the ground *anyway* and I've always needed orthotics. People had just convinced me that constant, severe foot pain and crap balance was somehow normal. For decades! Crazy.
I love your videos!
Have never been able to walk in stiletto heels. Some of the old shoes are just gorgeous!
Thank you for the research.
Very interesting video on a show type that probably causes the most ankle injuries.
I call them no. Just no.
0:44 Can someone tell me what brand these sea green and pink heels are from? I want them.
Love the thumbnail you ended up with!
Fashion is a coalescence of the zeitgeist and the natural evolution of style and aesthetic.
In your Birch ad, may I ask what brand of moccasins you were wearing or are they ones you've made yourself? They looked really nice. ❤😊
In Polish, in hmmm colloquial speech, this type of heels (and both shoes with this heels type) are called "szpilki" (in english needles) - it is interesting that it probably comes prom Dior.. Other heels, in your movie mentioned as stiletto in my language are called just "obcasy" (in english heels), and they have types just as low, high, ducky, bricks etc. But nope, needle heels aren't thing in my language, they are a different THING, not just heels :D.
You just know this will be a good one😍 👠👡
facts
I now have a burning need to know when and how pumps came out of the night and took over daytime footwear for women, and I cannot find out anything about it anywhere.
It would have to be the materials and the manufacturers first, because you can design whatever you want but if no one can make it it's just a sketch.
The copywriters are the ones who really created the name.
In "Butterfield 8", Elizabeth Taylor used her stiletto heels as weapon to stab man's foot.
are there any books about shoes and their history ud recomend??
Anyone else reminded of the movie Kinky Boots? No?
Oh, that’s why their a weapon .
Of course men making womens shoes. 😱
Honestly, it's on brand because in weapon nerd circles, people still debate what counts as a stiletto knife lol
I'm a 48 year old woman, that is wearing velcro surgical ortho shoes, at this point. With tendonitis, he'll spur, bone degeneration and calcification, I love shoes. Pain, podiatry and ugly shoes are my life now. Btwn being a dancer from and early age and mixed connective tissue disorder, feet.... RIP. I digress....The early shoes you show look like they are made to caress and support a human foot, and beautifully with comfort. Shoes now??? Who's foot are they for????👽
And all this time I thought they were invented by Kinky Boots.