Who invented the high heel shoe??

Question

I want a name to be able to curse at when I walk around in them for 8 hours a day and my feet are killing me!!

Answer 1

The Hi-Heel (or high heel) was invented in 1911 by Hiram Ferse, a German immigrant to the United States. He named his invention after himself, anglicizing his name in the process. Ever since, women have had a love/hate relationship with Hi's invention, because although it gives the illusion of longer legs and slims the calves and buttocks, Hi-Heels can be very uncomfortable when worn for long periods.

Answer 2

If you can't do the walking...well just don't wear them, I wear high heels every day and even when my feet are killing me I wouldn't trade them in for anything. The inventor of these shoes is a genius and I am forever grateful for high heeled shoes, they rule :) if you can walk in them that is ;)

Answer 3

Y juss curse everywun who doesnt wear high heels =)

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

History of the high-heeled shoe
As early as the late fifteenth century, horsemen grew tired of their feet slipping out of their stirrups, which were little more than loops of leather hung from the saddle. As the soft stirrup gave way to the hard stirrup, for reasons of quicker mounting and dismounting during battle, an additional problem was encountered in that the hard stirrup was much more tiring and damaging to the rider's feet during longer rides.

The obvious solution was to design a leather shoe with a thicker sole that supported the rider's weight, distributing the pressure from the stirrups over more of the bottom of the rider's feet. However this failed to solve the problem of the rider's feet slipping forward in the stirrups, often with comical, if not tragic results.

Cobblers had been adding thin, flat heels to shoes by this time, as a pair of leather shoes was very expensive. Both soles and heels were developed to protect the owner's comfort and investment by increasing the long-term durability of the shoe and distributing uneven pressures from rough terrain more evenly over the owners' feet.

Riders and cobblers worked together to develop the "rider's heel," with a height of approximately 1-1/2", which appeared around 1500. The leading edge was canted forward to help grip the stirrup, and the trailing edge was canted forward to prevent the elongated heel from catching on underbrush or rock while backing up, such as in on-foot combat. These design features are still in use today in riding boots, primarily on both men and women's cowboy boots.

The simple riding heel gave way to a more stylized heel over its first three decades. During this time military uniforms became more stylized, particularly among the nobility, who equated style with social status. Beginning with the French, heel heights among men crept up, often becoming higher and thinner, until they were no longer useful while riding, but were relegated to "court-only" wear. By the late 1600s men's heels were commonly between three and four inches in height.

In 1533, more than three decades after the male French nobility began wearing heels, the diminutive wife of the Duke of Orleans, Catherine de Medici, commissioned a cobbler to fashion her a pair of heels, both for fashion, and to increase her stature. They were an adaptation of chopines, like chopines both the heel and toe were raised (not unlike modern platform shoes), but unlike what had come before, the heel was higher than the toe and the "platform" was made to bend in the middle like the foot.

It's been said by some that Leonardo Da Vinci was the inventor of the high-heel.[citation needed] While he may have designed a heel or two in his day, the truth is that it was invented due to military necessity. High-heeled shoes quickly caught on with the fashion-conscious men and women of the French court, and spread to pockets of nobility in other countries. Both men and women continued wearing heels as a matter of noble fashion throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

When the French Revolution drew near, in the late 1700s, the practice of wearing heels drew to a close, as the term "well-heeled" had became synonymous with opulent wealth, and could incur the ire of the public at large.

Throughout most of the 1800s, flats and sandals were the normative style for both sexes, but the heel resurfaced in fashion during the late 1800s, almost exclusively among women. Since the early 1900s, high-heel design has run the gamut of styles, and heels for men saw a brief resurgence in the 1970s, as was captured by John Travolta's character in the opening and final dance sequences of Saturday Night Fever, as well as other period films. In addition to women, many transgendered people wear heels, as do a small percentage of heterosexual men. Heels are also worn today by drag queens. While today's fashions favor pointed toes, most styles that have appeared over the last century remain available in one form or another, along with a plethora of newer styles.

Answer 6

It was originally a man's fashion item, started, I believe, during the Reformation. Its purpose was to contract the calf muscle (as it is now for women); a "well-turned" calf was considered attractive.

Answer 7

LOL more than likely it was some gay man who thought that is look hot and couldn't wear them all day long like we have to LOL

Answer 8

I'm going to guess some guy invented them.

Answer 9

It was a man who had something against women I am sure! I wish I knew too!

Answer 10

Im sure it was a man!! Just another way to torture women...lol