History of the Shoe

Humans are the "tenderfeet" among the animals. Nature does not protect human feet from burning sands and stony ground with soft cushions like those of the cat or with horny hoofs like those of the horse. So the earliest footwear was undoubtedly born of the necessity to provide some protection when moving over rough terrain in varying weather conditions. In very ancient times, people used as foot coverings the closest available materials: bark, woven grass, leaves, or animal skins. These crude coverings were held to the feet with thongs. From these primitive beginnings developed the 3 standard kinds of footwear we have today: the sandal, the shoe, and the boot.

It is entirely likely that prehistoric footwear consisted primarily of tree bark, plant leaves, or animal hides tied around the bottom of the foot simply to provide protection against rocks and rough terrain. However, it wasn't long before footwear became a touch more sophisticated while at the same time growing somewhat more attractive, to the extent that, as with a hat, a man's status could be judged merely on the basis of what he wore on his feet. In fact, many relief paintings from Egyptian times depict fine-looking sandals of interlacing palms and papyrus leaves worn by royalty along the order of Tutankhamen.

Egyptian sandals made about 2000 BC from plaited papyrus leaves are still preserved today. Wanting the tragic heroes in his plays to loom larger than life, the dramatist Aeschylus required that his actors all done shoes with thick cork soles. The craftsmen of ancient Greece created artistic sandals, and the Romans considered their footgear to be a badge of rank. Romans devised military style thongs, which enabled their legions to march across Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. The "caligae" was a sturdy thick-soled heavy leather sandal with an upper that reached the instep. When victorious soldiers returned from war they frequently substituted the bronze nails, which held the caligae together with gold and silver tacks. They were hardwearing platforms of 3 or 4 layers of vegetable-tanned cattle hide strapped around the foot and ankle. Both the Egyptians and Romans drew their enemies’ faces on the soles of their sandals so they could literally step on them.

Shoes from all cultures and societies are powerful indicators of social and economic status. In many countries around the world, the majority of people still do not wear shoes and therefore they are often associated with special occasions or significant status.

According to ancient Jewish custom, an unmarried brother-in-law of a childless widow was obliged to marry her. Since the sandal was given as a sign of an oath, in the halizah ritual, by publicly untying and removing his shoe, she could release him from that duty.

Whereas the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans displayed the body, the Christians of the early Middle Ages concealed it, including the foot. Plus, the weather could be much less comfortable than the weather found in Mediterranean areas. Among the most sought-after gifts of the time were shoes. Costs were so prohibitive that people bequeathed their footwear to family and loved ones, hence the saying "following in your father's footsteps. Then in the11th century the Crusades began, and contact with the Orient influenced a change in shoe styles to more flowing and decorative lines. Shoemakers formed guilds to promote quality work.

Thanks to a stray comment by Confucius, mothers in 10th century China bound their daughters’ feet, hoping to achieve a “golden lotus,” a foot measuring just 3 inches. The "lotus" feet looked like tiny hooves and almost immobilized a woman. A symbol of high status, they were also considered powerfully erotic. In 1911 the practice was banned, and in 1949 Mao made it apenal offense to bind girls' feet, which was out of favor by then anyway.

Edward II originated shoe sizes in 1324. He decreed that 3 barley corns, placed end to end, equaled one inch. 36 barleycorns, end to end, were the actual length of his own foot. Each barleycorn was one third on an inch, which added up to 12 inches or one "foot." The longest normal foot measured 39 barleycorns, or 13 inches, and was called size 13. Smaller sizes were graded down from this number, each by a third of an inch. 

Even suits of armor followed the fashion for long pointed toes and were worn over soft cordwain leather shoes. Foot soldiers went without the protection of armor and only had shoes like flimsy slippers rather than the sturdy walking and fighting shoes of the Roman soldiers of days gone by.

During the Renaissance, shoe fashions ran to ridiculous extremes. In the early 14th century, shoes with comically long pointed toes were all the rage. The higher the rank of the wearer, the longer were the toes. The French called these long shoes "poulaines" after Poland, and the English, "crakows" after Cracow, then the capital of Poland. (An Asian superstition that held that long toes made a witch powerless might have been to blame.) Some dandies wore shoes 2˝ feet from heel to toe and held up the toes by tying them to the knees with chains. In 1463 King Edward IV of England put his foot down--he issued an edict decreeing a 6-inch toe for commoners, 1 12-inch toe for gentlemen, and a 24-inch toe for nobility. The style endured for 2 centuries, despite the church's disapproval of the shoes' suggestive shape. Then the duckbill came into fashion. Its ever-wider toe attained a width of 9 inches. Catherine de Medici introduced high heels and ballet slippers to France. 

In the 15th century, elite Venetian women adopted the high Asian clogs, or ”chopines,” which had been popular in the east for centuries. They arrived in Europe through trade between Turkey and Venice. These were shoe son top of stilt like blocks of wood, which gave them a literal leg up on their social inferiors while protecting their feet from the muck of the street. Some chopines were as much as 24 inches off the ground and the ladies wearing them required escorts through the streets. As an aside, walking canes became fashionable and escorts would walk on their right hand side to protect the ladies from the carriages passing on the streets, leaving their right hand to draw a sword. When the chopine fashion filtered down to the lesser classes, the elite scorned it. The last to wear the chopine were the Venetian street prostitutes who wanted to stand head and shoulders above the competition, and be noticed by prospective customers. The popularity of the "walking footstools” spread throughout Europe, particularly to France and England. Then early in the 16th century Catherine de Medici moved from Florence to Paris to marry the king. She was small in stature and wore high-heeled shoes to her wedding. The style became an instant success and the fashion remained in vogue throughout her lifetime.

Prior to 1600, there was no such thing as a true heel. During the 1590s some low heels of wood or cork had been produced, and before that wedges of cork or leather lifts had been tried as heels, but with very limited success, since they made walking difficult. Once true heels appeared, other forms rapidly disappeared. Experiments with heel construction led to heels held together with wooden pegs on robust bottoms, which were necessary to support the foot on high-heeled boots. This development led, however, to problems in pairing shoes, and from the early 17th century to the 1820s it was customary to make "straight" shoes to be worn on either foot. Generally footwear had been paired for left and right feet since Roman times, but the development of the raised heel created the need for shoe and boot bottoms with a more precise shape and greater stability. About the time of the American Civil War the manufacture of right and left shoes became generally accepted.

One of Napoleon's legacies was the fashionable balls that were he held in his honor. Paris succumbed to dancing for pleasure and then society's preference for grand balls swept through the civilized world. And since militarism was engulfing the continent, the men wore uniforms and the women the new neo-Grecian styles. With the new more vigorous dancing steps, the men's boots abused the women's slippers which were as delicate as modern ballet slippers. It was common for women to take a second pair to the ball. After one wearing, Empress Josephine discovered a hole in her dancing slipper and complained to her shoemaker. "Ah I see what the problem is, Madame," he exclaimed, "You have walked in them."

In the 1890s women wore a high-buttoned shoe with a toothpick toe.

Shoes were made primarily of wood and cork during the late1930s and early 1940s due to the lack of leather and the wartime ban on rubber. Cork wedged sandals proved to be very popular to wear to the beach.

Many people still wear shoe styles that have not changed for generations. Such styles include the knob sandals of India and the moccasins of the North American Indian. Eskimos and other people living in cold climate swear soft-skin boots. Still in use is the wooden shoe, or sabot, worn by some Europeans.

Today in the U.S. the variety and quantity of shoes have increased greatly. Most shoe fashions, however, are variations of 16 basic styles: the balmoral, blucher, boot, brogue, d'orsay, gillie, gore, jodhpur, moccasin, monk, mule, oxford, pump, sandal, shawl tongue (or kiltie), and strap.

Members of certain professions may wear special shoes particularly suited to their work. Plus, sports shoes have shown much specialization as to style and materials in the last few years. Much study has been devoted to the shape and working of the foot and to details of shoe design that will enhance the shoe's function and comfort. The popular jogging shoe, for example, may have a specially designed heel and a sole that provides extra support to the foot. Hazardous occupations require safety shoes with reinforced toe caps of steel, fiber, or plastic. Some manufacturers produce corrective shoes designed to relieve foot conditions such as bunions, corns, and hammertoes. Such shoes may come either with built-in corrections or may be custom-made to individual specifications.

The History of Shoes: Superstition

Feet and bad luck

Although Christmas is a traditional Christian festival it was a pagan festival long before. Many superstitions were connected for example the Yule log burnt on the Christmas fire was broken into many pieces and kept as a luck talisman. It is extremely unlucky if the Yuletide log was touched by either a woman with flat feet or a man with a turn in his eye. An "Ill fit" was the term used by Scots to describe a jinx. Some people were suspicious of meeting people with barefeet especially in the morning (red haired females - a particular must to avoid). Flat footed or splay footed people were especially bad luck. If on a journey the path of travelers was crossed by a barefooted women then this was thought to be bad luck and could only be rectified by drawing blood from her forehead. To dissolve the spell meant to return to your abode, cross the threshold with the right foot, eat and drink then set out again. Meeting a barefooted woman whilst on the way to a wedding was a particularly bad omen and likened to meeting a witch. People were particularly wary of traveling on a Monday and to meet someone with flat feet was considered very bad luck.