The high heeled shoe experienced two distinct periods in history that were characterized by strong opposition to it. One was in the seventeen hundreds, when the Puritans of the American Colonies decided that high heels were tools of witchcraft and any woman using them to ensnare a man would be executed as a witch; The other was during the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s, when women decided that high heels were symbols of aggressive male repression and equated them to "handcuffs for the feet" which prohibited a woman from protecting herself from predatory males.
By the time the 1980s rolled around, even many feminists were ready to redefine that position. A philosophical argument emerged that gave women permission to experiment freely with fashion, which included high heels. The difference, as defined by feminists of the time, was that women were choosing to design and wear high heels for their own pleasure and even as a definition of their femininity...on their own terms. Oddly, part of this rediscovery of the high heel was also a re-emergence of the age-old concept that the heels gave a person an appearance of strength and authority. This was not so different from the reasons the high heels were used in the 18th century by the aristocracy and royalty.
The low, wide heels of the 1970s changed into higher heel as the turn of the century approached. The popular shoes of the 80s and 90s were those from a designer called Blahnik, who was dominating the catwalks during those years.
The Yuppy Generation embraced the high heel with enthusiasm. It was almost as if a hunger had been generated during the austerity of the 60s, and the new generation was determined to be satiated. The new fashions in high heel shoes showed up everywhere including television shows, the work place, and the streets.
Designers such as Hope and Choo turned out stiletto heels in a variety of styles and fashions and women ate them up. The late 90s however saw a return to some of the values of the Hippy Era, this time riding on the back of a concern for the environment. The trend turned to simplicity, health, and concepts such as sustainability and somehow the heel seemed out of place in gatherings where the conversation focused on how to fix what was wrong in the world.
This was again a temporary trend. Apparently the female appetite for shoes exceeds altruism, or at least desires to live in peace with it and not in conflict. Whatever the explanation, the heel had returned by the early 2000s.
Now, a decade later, the choices are wide and varied and include the stiletto and the flat and virtually every imaginable style between. We seem to have entered an era that embraces personal choice as a matter of cultural style.
The range of choices include shoes that are new to human eyes, such as the wide varieties of hundreds of athletic shoes which replaced the single tennis shoe of the 1960s, hybrid shoes like the tennis shoe with heels, sandals, flats, toe shoes, and the list goes on and on.
As I'm sure you noticed, heels have not gone away and they're not likely to any time soon.
Melaney Hampton loves shoes. She loves looking at them, trying them on, buying them, arranging them in her closet, choosing the right ones for an evening out and finding new styles. She loves writing about shoes as well, and you can check out her observations at Jessica Simpson Shoes on Sale, or Click Here to view her list of recommended high heels for all occasions.
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