High Heeled Shoes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

High Heeled Shoes - Essay Example The history of heels is not clear, although they date back to pre-Christian times. Egyptian butchers wore high heels to raise them above the carnage, and Mongolian horseman had heeled boots for gripping their stirrups firmly. The first recorded year heels were worn for vanity was 1533, when Catherine de Medicis brought heels from Florence to Paris for her marriage to the Duke d'Orleans. The style was instantly set forth by ladies from the French court (The history of heels, n.d.). High heels are not a modern day invention. Rather, they enjoy a diverse history, for both men as well as women. Despite arguments over when high heels were first used, but there is a consensus that heels were worn by both men and women throughout the world for many centuries and for a range of reasons (heeled wiki). The first officially recorded moment of the wear of high heels involved the 1533 marriage between Catherine de Medici with the Duke of Orleans. She wore heels made in Florence for her wedding, which made high heeled shoes a norm for ladies of the Duke's court in France. In fact, it's plausible that the "modern" high heel was invented by non other than Leonardo da Vinci (heeled wiki). Within the next century, European woman walked on heels 5 inches and higher, balancing with canes so as not to fall. As the working class couldn't afford to wear such shoes high heel shoe heights fell. And therefore after they rose or fell according to the fashion (NU heels). Use of high heeled shoe Although most people equate high-heeled shoes with women, this is not only not the case throughout history; it's still not the case today. Many men throughout the Western world, including Europe, the U.S., Canada, and other countries, wear high-heeled shoes on a regular basis, and for a diversity of reasons. High-heeled male dance shoes (often called Cuban heel or Latin heel shoes) are fairly common, especially for shorter male partner dancers and are not considered effeminate or transvestite wear (heeled shoe wiki).How women use high heeled shoe In the 19th century the high heeled shoe became the top style to own. Although Europe brought the new trend for high heels, America wasn't far behind in becoming of style. In 1888 the first heel factory in the United States opened, making it unnecessary for women to import their shoes from Paris (The history of heels, n.d.). Newly liberated, women in the early part of the 20th century favored sensible shoes. But in the 1920s, as hemlines rose, legs and feet were suddenly on display and shoes needed to be as beautiful as they were practical (The history of heels, n.d.). Despite being in and out of style, high heels reached new level with the advent of the stiletto in the 1950s. And to the dislike of many women, high heels popped up again in fashion magazines in the 1990s. Still, whether a woman thinks heels are the height of fashion or the height of pain, she usually has a least five pair in her closet for the occasion when flat shoes just won't do (The history of heels, n.d.).Despite women have a love/hate relationship with high-heeled shoes. This does not prevent the most of women from owning a number pair of high heels. A small number of women