High Heels Through The Ages

[JeffB]

I stumbled by accident on this article from Harper's Bazaar about what high heels looked like from the 1500's to the present day.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/street-style/g7690/high-heels-through-the-years/?src=arb_fb_hp&src=arb_fb_hp_d&utm_medium=cpm&utm_source=huffpo&utm_campaign=arb_fb_hp_d&mvt=i&mvn=fc2156727315422da143938b23a03d9a&mvp=NA-HUFFPOST-11235841&mvl=APage+-+Top+Left+Rail

Here's what women wore in 1959, the year I was born:

[Shyheels]

What a fun article and series of images!

[JeffB]

24 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

What a fun article and series of images!

Glad you liked it. I found the article most entertaining.

[Shyheels]

I loved it. As a photographer I was fascinated by the sequence of old pictures. Very nicely done, capturing the mood and style of each year.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Shyheels

[RonC]

That photo from 1959 is great.  As an 8 year old, I was just beginning to figure out that I had a thing for high heels.  I really like the very feminine look of the shoe on the left as well as the bow pumps second from right.  Those shoes from the late 60's and early 60's will always be my fvorities, which is why I still have a thing for the classic black patent stiletto.

[Shyheels]

What surprised me from the series of photos going back decades was how modern some of the styling appeared in the 30s and 40s

[Puffer]

The true era of the classic high stiletto heel (c1958-64) was not really shown.   Whilst the shoes in the 1959 shot were typical of that time, there were many higher courts around, typically plain or with slingbacks and sometimes a small bow or strap embellishment.   Where was the '1960' girl in her white 4.5" pointed stiletto courts, pencil skirt and beehive? 

[Shyheels]

They didn't get to Essex...

[Puffer]

5 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

They didn't get to Essex...

Although the pointed white stiletto is part of Essex folklore (along with the 'Basildon Blonde'), that shoe style was enormously popular throughout the UK in the early 60s.   It came in all manner of variants - from the plain kitten-heeled court to the five-inch slingback or sandal.   Almost all teens and twenties (and quite a few older women) aspired to a pair, not only for summer wear (usually without stockings) but also for more formal occasions, especially weddings.   And they had the Royal seal of approval as both the Queen and Margaret wore (or had worn) white shoes regularly. 

Quite why such a timeless, smart and appropriate shoe fashion should now be regarded so widely as abhorrent is beyond me - but the perceived association with (allegedly) tarty Essex girls* seems largely to blame.   But that doesn't stop it from re-appearing periodically in more enlightened circles.

*Postscript:   One of many contemporary jokes:   Q. Why does an Essex Girl wear white stilettos?    A. So the dandruff doesn't show when she goes without knickers.

[Shyheels]

I don't disagree - although I was not living in Britain back then. But as with all lists they are idiosyncratic. The shoe shown as emblematic of my birth year - 1958 - had a very odd looking heel that resembled a piece of a chandelier. I don't recall ever seeing a shoe like that, even in pictures, before the one in this series.  

[Puffer]

3 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

I don't disagree - although I was not living in Britain back then. But as with all lists they are idiosyncratic. The shoe shown as emblematic of my birth year - 1958 - had a very odd looking heel that resembled a piece of a chandelier. I don't recall ever seeing a shoe like that, even in pictures, before the one in this series.  

Agreed.   The shoes shown were mostly chosen for their design features rather than being totally typical.

[maninpumps]

That was very fun and explains alot about my thing for wedges . Being born in 1968 it becomes clear . That would explain all my sisters (3) wearing wedges . LOL