The Renaissance? Maybe just before the French Revolution? When was that first pair of high heels worn, exactly?

The history of high heels goes back further than you may think – B.C times, in fact. Egyptian figures on murals dating from 3500 B.C show some type of high heel being worn. And, in ancient Greece and Rome, kothomi – what we’d describe as platform sandals with wood or cork soles – were worn by men and women of the higher classes and female prostitutes. In fact, that link between the upper classes and prostitutes is an interesting one – and one we’ll see crop up again.

High heels were around in Egyptian times

The Middle Ages brought patterns, which both men and women wore. They had wooden soles and were clearly a precursor to what we would recognise as high heels today. Patterns were attached to fragile and expensive shoes to lift them above the mud and other street debris while walking outdoors. By the 1400s, Turkey had created chopines, which were popular throughout Europe until the 1600s. Chopines could be seven to eight or even 30 inches high; so high that it was impossible to walk in them unaided. You either had to hobble around on canes or lean on servants.

The chopine was largely confined to upper-class women who could afford to rest on the shoulders of others. Why bother? Well, apparently height conferred status – the taller you were the more superior in class and wealth. They were worn almost exclusively by women. In Venice too, they became well known as a status symbol – representing wealth and social standing for women. Yet, at the same time, the impossibly high shoes began to be associated with domination and submission – it was said that upper class women would be less able to become involved in illicit liaisons, and prostitutes unable to escape from the bordello or harem.

In the 1500s, Catherine de Medici brought a pair of heels with her to the French court, and with it a new fashion trend. Her two inch high heels gave her short stature extra height and an alluring sway when she walked. Not a bad way to get attention when you’re competing with your husband’s tall and beautiful mistress! The trend quickly caught on and heels were eagerly worn by Parisian noblewomen and by those across Europe. By 1580, heels were popular for both sexes and were associated with authority, privilege, or wealth, giving rise to the expression ‘well-heeled’.

Then along came the French revolution, Napoleon banishing high heels in an attempt to enforce equality and break down social hierarchies. She who ate too much cake, Marie Antoinette, wore two inch heels to the guillotine and became the symbol of all the lavish decadence of the aristrocracy. So, when the French monarchy fell, so did the height of the shoes.

It wasn’t until the 1860s that heels became popular again. High-heeled lace-up boots with a slight glimpse of the toe were worn under flowing dresses. Again, lavish fashion associated heels with wealth and class. But, in general, women in the late nineteenth century demanded more comfortable, flatter shoes. That is until the roaring twenties, when short hem lines encouraged more visible, elaborate heels. Short-lived though, as we know – the Depression and World War Two years brought more difficult and practical times, which meant heels were generally lower and wider.

The 1950s saw Christian Dior and his shoe designer Roger Vivier designing the first shoe with a narrow, ‘dagger’ heel – a stiletto. The 1960s miniskirt meant that stilettos were often attached to boots to enhance the look of bare legs. But, with the rise of feminism, stilettos went out of favour. Feminists claimed they were designed by men to cripple and subordinate women, an act comparable to the foot binding and corsets of the past.

This meant low-heeled shoes were back, this time with square toes – but the hippie movement preferred platforms. Platform shoes were hugely popular in the 1970s, a decade which proved to be an experimental time for fashion. It was all about dressing to shock – with higher and higher platform shoes in bright and psychedelic patterns and colours.

In the 1980s, women started to reject the idea of heels being imposed on them by men. Women now claimed they were wearing high heels for themselves, and that heels gave them not only height, but power and authority, as they allowed them to stand eye-to-eye with men. In the 1990s, Manolo Blahnik’s high heeled shoes were seen everywhere on catwalks and television shows. High heels were seen again as signals of financial success. And then, of course, along came Carrie Bradshaw and Sex and the City….and the rest, as they say, is history!