As anyone who’s ever run out to get the paper in bare feet on a cold morning knows,
shoes are a brilliant (and necessary) invention. People have been fascinated by footwear since the beginning of recorded history. The Greek god Mercury wore winged
sandals (who doesn’t want a pair of those?) and childhood fairy tales involving shoes
abound: Cinderella, Puss in Boots, the Seven League Boots, the Little Old Woman Who
Lived in a Shoe, not to mention Dorothy and her ruby slippers. Here’s a brief timeline
of shoe highlights throughout history.
A.D. 900
In China, the thousand-year-long practice of
foot-binding begins.
1000
Anglo-Saxon brides
hand a pair of shoes to
their groom rather than
exchanging rings.
1400s
The poulaine, a shoe with
very, very, very long toes,
takes the upper classes by
storm. By the mid-1400s,
the toes are so elongated
that they’re stuffed with
moss to keep their shape
and sometimes tied to the
ankle or even the
knee with cord. »
1533
The extremely short
Catherine de Medici wears
one of the first pairs of
raised high heels to dazzle
the French court.
1790
Shoelaces as we know
them are first recorded
in England. (But metal
eyelets aren’t invented
until the 1820s!)
1818
Shoemakers begin making
separate lasts for left and
right feet; up until then,
shoes could be worn on
either foot.
1865
1917
The vulcanization of Keds are marketed
rubber allows the invention as the very first
of rubber-soled plimsolls “sneakers.” Converse
for badminton and starts producing its All
tennis. Star line the same year.
1986
Ferdinand and Imelda
Marcos flee a revolution
in the Philippines. Imelda
is discovered to own
1,060 pairs
of shoes,
putting
a face on
shoe
addicts
every-
where. »
1993
Supermodel Naomi
Campbell falls on the
catwalk wearing a 9" pair
of Vivienne Westwood
platforms.
2002
An Australian mathematician finally discovers the
most efficient way to tie
your shoelaces.
Present day
Online retailers allow
customers to customize
shoe designs, and new
cobblers open up shop for
the first time in decades.
