History from the High Heel
Believe it or not, the high heel was originally invented for purely practical purposes! Forget about aesthetics or Vogue claim that the high heel sole purpose is to show off a woman leg! Shoes with distinct heels were a solution to the problem of horse riding. Flat-footed shoes tended to slip out from the stirrup and so footwear with "rider heels" had been invented to keep the foot firmly in place. These 1st high heels had heels of approximately 1 ? inches.
Rider heels 1st became prevalent around 1500. (Some would argue that high heels existed long before then. Roman tragic actors in 200 B.C. often wore platform sandals with very high cork soles.) Soon these practical additions to shoes became a symbol of status and style, specially inside the French court. High heels had been equally fashionable for men and women. In fact, high-heeled boots for men were all the rage. The heels soon became so high that they were no longer practical and had been referred to disdainfully as "court-pony" wear. It was commonplace to see a nobleman teetering around on 4 inch heels.
Heels had been also applied to give certain royals a "boost" when it came to towering over their subjects. The quite short Italian bride of the Duke of Orleans, Catherine dedici, wore two-inch platform footwear at her wedding in an attempt to augment her accurate stature. (Catherine was only 14 at the time, so probably she still had a couple of inches coming!) It was not at all unusual for a monarch, ahem, shortcomings to influence the footwear preferences of an entire kingdom. Catherine wore high heels, and so other women adopted the style. You can blame pointy-toed footwear on King Henry II of England who is said to have worn shoes with narrow, pointed toes to disguise his deformed feet. This style of shoe soon became a style statement and a symbol of wealth and power.
High heels had been pretty much associated with the aristocracy. (Perhaps you may have heard on the expression "well-heeled", which is utilized to describe somebody who is very effectively off.) It really is no surprise then that high heels fell out of fashion with all the French Revolution. Both men and women threw out their high heels and adopted flat shoes or sandals alternatively. This new style of shoe reigned until the 19th century when high heels gradually became fashionable again. But this time around, it was only the women who adopted the practice.