The need to gain height above the ground may have originally been inspired by the weather and street conditions rather than money or vanity. During medieval times, special wooden soles called pattens were attached to the bottoms of fragile, expensive shoes made for wearing indoors so they could be kept out of the mud and damp when converted for outdoor use. Pattens were elevated in the heels and under the ball of the foot so the wearer could walk more easily by rocking forward on them; these shapes clearly foretold of high heels.
The entire shoe was elevated in the style called the chopine that originated in Turkey in about 1400. These shoes were effectively miniature stilts that were flat on the bottom and made of cork and covered with leather or fabric. The wearer slipped her feet into the tops that were open-backed slippers called mules or straps similar to sandals. Chopines were typically 7-8 in (18-20 cm) high, but, in the extreme, they were as much as 18 in (46 cm) tall. Chopines kept the wearer's skirts out of the mud, assuming the lady could walk at all. When the style became fashionable in sixteenth century Venice, chopineshod ladies walked with a servant on either side of them so they wouldn't fall. The ladies loved the attention and the additional height, but chopines were so restrictive that women were also forced by their footwear to stay at home. The 18 in (46 cm) extreme was reached in France and England where the fashion spread from Italy.
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Answer:
The need to gain height above the ground may have originally been inspired by the weather and street conditions rather than money or vanity. During medieval times, special wooden soles called pattens were attached to the bottoms of fragile, expensive shoes made for wearing indoors so they could be kept out of the mud and damp when converted for outdoor use. Pattens were elevated in the heels and under the ball of the foot so the wearer could walk more easily by rocking forward on them; these shapes clearly foretold of high heels.
Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/High-Heel.html#ixzz7JnlLjXBK
Explanation:
The entire shoe was elevated in the style called the chopine that originated in Turkey in about 1400. These shoes were effectively miniature stilts that were flat on the bottom and made of cork and covered with leather or fabric. The wearer slipped her feet into the tops that were open-backed slippers called mules or straps similar to sandals. Chopines were typically 7-8 in (18-20 cm) high, but, in the extreme, they were as much as 18 in (46 cm) tall. Chopines kept the wearer's skirts out of the mud, assuming the lady could walk at all. When the style became fashionable in sixteenth century Venice, chopineshod ladies walked with a servant on either side of them so they wouldn't fall. The ladies loved the attention and the additional height, but chopines were so restrictive that women were also forced by their footwear to stay at home. The 18 in (46 cm) extreme was reached in France and England where the fashion spread from Italy.
Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/High-Heel.html#ixzz7JnlQ46hn