Women just love their shoes. History is replete with stories that tell of women and their love affairs with shoes. Even now, there are many women in the world who collect shoes of different shapes and sizes, designs and styles. Shoes and women really go together – a simple look at shoe stores will reveal how big the shoe market is, and how women voraciously devour footwear. However, one particular kind of footwear that has women swooning all over the world – high heels. No collection or wardrobe is complete without several pairs of high heeled women’s shoes – which is a must for every wardrobe.
Origin and Definition
High heels are commonly described as shoes with heels higher than two and a half inches. Heels were said to be invented sometime in the 15th century, mainly as a riding shoe –a design which is still seen in riding boots today. The design of heeled shoes at that time were designed to make riding more convenient for riders, but as time progressed, became too high, and therefore unfit for riding purposes.
Both men and women used to wear high heels – some as high as four inches – as a gala or formal party wear. One of the functions it had was to increase one’s stature – which is one of the reasons why high heeled women’s shoes are still in the rage today. The French Revolution in the 1700’s put a damper on the fashion of wearing high heels, as it was commonly associated with the elite and the aristocracy. The fad only re emerged in the 1800’s, and was exclusively used with women’s shoes only.
Why wear high heels?
There are many aesthetic reasons for wearing high heeled women’s shoes, one of the main reasons being that it increases one’s perceived height. High heeled women’s shoes also give the illusion of having longer legs, which is considered by many to be very attractive in women.
High heels used to be worn exclusively in a formal, semi formal, or corporate setting, but recent years have seen many women making it fashionable as well to sport high heels in more casual settings and environments. Many fashion icons, celebrities, and supermodels have been seen wearing heels with jeans, the most basic get up in casual fashion. Thus high heels have ceased to be simply dress shoes, but have also transitioned into more casual, relaxed wear. Modern shoe technology has also been able to develop ways to make certain designs of high heeled shoes more comfortable, thus removing the traditional discomfort associated with wearing high heels.
Kinds of high heels
Stilettos – considered to be the sexiest of high heels, these heels are above two and a half inches, is very slim, and have a very small and narrow point of contact with the ground, which can be as small as 0.4 inches.
Wedges – Wedges are heels that occupy the whole space of the foot, from the heel to the toe area, but the heel remains significantly raised.
Cone heels – as the name implies, the shape of these heels are conical, with a bigger contact point with the shoe and decreasing as the heel gets nearer to the ground.
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