Marylin Monroe once said: „Give a girl the right shoe, and she can conquer the world!“ What about high heels? In my high school days heels were shoes for older, sophisticated women and my high school prom was the first time I wore them. Since then we’ve had a love-hate relationship. I considered them painful and always preferred my Dr Martens or All-Stars. But everything changed 5 years ago…I took tango lessons with my boyfriend and showed up in my ballerina flats. My tango teacher immediately said: „This won’t work, you must wear high heels. My then boyfriend, now husband, is taller than me, and in tango you have to lean toward your partner which is impossible in flats. So I bought high heels and learnt to walk in them..and well…the rest is history! I will always prefer flat shoes, but there is something so elegant and sophisticated in high heels. They can lift up every outfit and give it something special. Some of my favourites are these basic red high heels…in them I always feel like Dorothy going to Oz…there is some magic in them..“Close your eyes and tap your heels three times…“
Shoebox Vanilla red heels and Zara hat
Hell Bunny dress
Azdaja Boutique spiderweb petticoat
Iwanine rukotvorine lace gloves
| No other shoe has gestured toward sexuality and sophistication as much as the high-heeled shoe.In ancient Greece and Rome, platform sandals were popular among actors who would wear shoes of different heights to indicate varying social status or importance of character.In ancient Rome, sex trade was not illegal and female prostitutes were identified by their high heels.In the 1400s, chopines, or platform shoes, were created in Turkey and were popular throughout Europe until the mid-1600s.
Chopine shoe The Venetians made the chopine into a status symbol revealing wealth and social standing for women. The formal invention of high heels as fashion is typically attributed to the rather short-statured Catherine de Medici (1519-1589). At the age of 14, Catherine de Medici was engaged to the powerful Duke of Orleans, later the King of France. She felt insecure and looking for a way to dazzle the French nation she donned heels two inches high that gave her a more towering physique and an alluring sway when she walked. In the early 1700s, French King Louis XIV (The Sun King) decreed that only nobility could wear heels that were coloured red. In 1791, the “Louis” high heels disappeared with the revolution, and Napoleon banished high heels in an attempt to show equality.
In the 1860s, heels as fashion became popular again, and the invention of the sewing machine allowed greater variety in high heels. When high heels made their comeback, some wearers were comfortable in five or even six-inch heels.
The Depression during the 1930s influenced Western shoe fashion as heels became lower and wider. Hollywood, however, gave the new heel an elegant look and stars’ shoes like Ginger Roger’s white and glittery heels began to challenge the influence of French shoe fashion.
The revival of Western high fashion in the post-war 1950s was led by the French designer Christian Dior and his collaboration with shoe designer Roger Vivier. Together they developed a Louis shoe with a narrow heel called a stiletto, which is the Italian word for a small dagger with a slender, tapering blade.
With the creation of the miniskirt in the early 1960s, stilettos were attached to boots that enhanced the look of bare legs. For many feminists, high heels indicated subservience and sexual stereotyping by men. Platform shoes became immensely popular in the 1970s, and perhaps no instance epitomizes the era like John Travolta’s Cuban-heeled platforms in the opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever in 1977. Higher heels returned in the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, Manolo Blahnik’s high-heeled shoes were seen everywhere on the catwalks as new designers started to rethink high heels.
Women in the 21st century have more shoe choices than ever before. Influenced in part by successful TV and film hits as Sex in the City and The Devil Wears Prada, some women are even going under the knife to shorten their toes or inject padding into the balls of their feet to allow their feet to fit more comfortably into a pair of stilettos. While these may be oddities of fashion, they gesture toward an exciting array of fashion choices women have today.
Abba – Head over Heels
The Ruby Slippers – The Wizard of Oz
Pics by Miss Andrea, music help by Miss Nina |
Miss Dee STyle 
I love that ABBA video and the song, good choice there. My feet don’t do well in heels, especially my poor ankles so I can only wear lower heels for very short amounts of time. They do ruin your feet so I wear with caution!
I hated heels, but I couple of years ago I just decided to give them a chance – they give something special to every outfit – 5-6 cm stileto heels are my favourites!
Pingback: Happy First Birthday “Miss Dee STyle” Blog :) ! | Miss Dee STyle
Pingback: Shoe Gal | Miss Dee STyle