High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels or pumps, are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wearer appear taller, accentuating the calf muscle.
There are many types of high heels in varying colors, materials, styles, and heights. High heels have been used in various ways to communicate nationality, professional affiliation, gender, and social status. High heels have been an important statement piece of fashion throughout history in the West. In early 17th-century Europe, high heels were a sign of masculinity and high social status. Towards the end of the century, the trend began to spread to women's fashion. By the 18th century, high-heeled shoes had split along gender lines. By this time, heels for men were chunky squares attached to riding boots or tall formal dress boots, while women's high heels were narrow, pointy, and often attached to slipper-like dress shoes (similar to modern heels). By the 20th century, high heels with a slim profile represented femininity; however, a thick high heel on a boot or clog was still socially acceptable for men. Until the 1950s, shoe heels were typically made of wood, but in recent years they have been made of a variety of materials including leather, suede, and plastic.
Wearing high heels is associated with greater risk of falls, musculoskeletal pain, development of foot deformities, and varicose veins.
History
Pre-1700s
Platformed footwear has a long history dating as far back as ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, wearing very thick-soled sandals was an indication of upper-class status. Butchers in ancient Egypt also elevated themselves by wearing platformed sandals to keep blood away from their feet.
Starting in the 10th century, the Persian cavalry wore galesh, a kind of boot with heels, in order to ensure their feet stayed in the stirrups. Heeled shoes also ensured the safety of Persian arrow-shooting riders, while standing up on galloping horses. This utility of the heel for horseback riders has been preserved in the Western cowboy boot. Wearing heels became associated with wealth because of its traditional connection with horseback riding, which was expensive and time-consuming. This practical use of the heel has set the standard for most horseback riding shoes throughout history and into the present day.
After the Great Schism in the 11th century, the Pope notably began wearing red-heeled shoes. In 12th-century India, a statue from the Ramappa Temple depicts an Indian woman's foot clad in a raised shoe. During the Medieval period in Europe, both men and women wore wooden pattens under or around their shoes to raise themselves out of the dirty and excrement-filled streets. The chopine combined this with the shoe, reaching heights up to by 1430. Venetian law later limited the height to three inches—but this regulation was widely ignored. At the end of the Elizabethan era, cavalier boots were introduced for riding. These originally had relatively low heels, but by the time of the English Civil War stacked heels for men of up to 2 inches were common. A 17th-century law in Massachusetts announced that women would be subjected to the same treatment as witches if they lured men into marriage via the use of high-heeled shoes.
Under the Manchu Qing dynasty, most wealthy Han women had bound feet with lotus shoes but some women wore platform shoes elevatedlike many chopineat the center of the sole rather than at the heels.