Very few, if any, of those feminine penchants considered frivolous and unnecessary have as venerable a history as high-heeled shoes. Against an ever-recurring outcry denouncing the practice of wearing high heels is ranged a record of doing so that some cultural historians say goes back two thousand years. At the very least, the high heel is as old as the High Renaissance.
Like many other of the achievements of that watershed, the creation of the high-heeled shoe is most frequently ascribed to the Italians, more particularly, the Venetians. While that city-state, the Jewel of the Adriatic, flourished, much of its wealth came from the trading pursued by the swift, far-roaming sailing ships of the republic. The return of those ships was among the major events in the life of the city; high heels were invented, according to one theory, by some enterprising wives who wanted to catch the first glimpse of incoming ships, to ascertain if they were their husbands' vessels. The heels allowed them to see above the milling throngs who invariably gathered at the harbor as soon as a ship was sighted.
It sounds plausible enough, but the real story (or stories) has never been truly authenticated. Some say the style is far older than that; others, that the time frame is right but the origin was Spain. When high heels appeared in Elizabethan England, it was considered a Spanish style. Whatever the truth behind the mythology, it has been a fashion in footwear for a long, long time.
What outcries, if any, might have announced the original rise of the high heel we don't know, but a cataloging of its offenses against human anatomy is a common feature of our own time. Podiatrists, orthopedists, chiropodists, a whole range of specialists in a field now generally called sports medicine, and lay people as well, have denounced the wearing of high-heeled shoes as unnatural, and cited the damage they cause: bunions, corns, calluses, muscle aches, impaired circulation, and spinal problems.
Even without professional admonitions, most women found that wearing high heels caused problems from increased exhaustion to pain. Still, unlike other early feminine torture devices, like whaleboned corsets and round garters, they have not disappeared. The reason is simple enough to defy the pain produced: most women look better in heels. Wearing them elongates the lines of the legs, making the ankles look slender, the calves longer, the curving lines more elegant. Walking in high heels gives the body an inimitable gait, causes the hips to sway, and the whole figure to look taller and slimmer.
Despite all the disadvantages, high heels continue to be available for very nearly every occasion of a woman's life, except for those active sports that demand their own specialized footwear. From bedroom slippers to beachwear, from businesslike pumps to sandals, in a variety of shapes, sizes, components, and heights, the array is endless. Even storm boots, made to withstand the perils of cold, sleet, snow, and ice, are often perched incongruously on high heels.
But to give the style its due, the high heel is not always a mark of the frivolous and impractical. There is a genuine utility in the cowboy boot heel that holds the wearer in the stirrups when astride, and keeps the spurs off the ground when he's walking. Pirates and cavalry officers wore boots too, making the
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