Counter Strike
Pointed Toe Shoes
Pointed Toes, An Idea Gone Wild - In the history of shoes, the pointed toe goes all the way back to ancient Egypt, though the function of the pointed toe has never been quite explained. Pharaoh seemed to think the pointed sandal was pretty cool, as long as he had the most-pointed and others had lesser pointed sandals. This idea really took of in the Middle Ages in Europe where pointed shoes became quite the rage. The longer, the better, approaching the ridiculous. Court jesters and other free spirits even tied bells on the tips of the points. You can see these at times in old paintings or prints from the time. The Church even got involved, becoming upset when some started wearing the bells on their toes inside the cathedrals. So pointed toes were discouraged to some extent but never discontinued and are still present today.
Almost as ridiculous was the so called Duck Bill shoe, introduced in the late 15th century. This was the opposite of the pointed shoe. The Duck Bill was a wide shoe with the uppers often made of fancy silks or cloth. When you wear a shoe made of expensive material, more is better, in this case wider became better, to the point where people began to walk rather strangely. These shoes were even wider than clown's shoes of this day and age. The next phase of European shoe making introduced a narrower and more practical shoe, some with pointed toes naturally. The 15th century was not only noted for the Duck Bill, but also for the introduction of the clog. This wasn't a truly new invention; clogs had been worn in Asia for centuries, just not in Europe. Neither sandals, pointed shoes, nor the Duck Bill was particularly good to wear in snow or in mud. So the next evolutionary step involved the sole of the shoe, in this case a very thick sole.
High Heels Enter The Scene - All this time, women's shoes were also evolving, a bit more practical for sure. Up until the 16th century, women's shoes were not much different from men’s; they were in general quite plain and functional. By the 16th century, high heels began to come into vogue. The stiletto heel, while basically a 20th century innovation, had its counterpart 400 years ago with the very high heel. Women also began wearing thicker soled shoes to gain a little height, but eventually the sight of petite ladies clomping around the house in heavy clogs must have been too much, and high heels became the sole means of gaining and inch or two in height (men wore high heels as well, especially the very short ones like King Louis XIV of France, who apparently got tired of always being the shortest guy in the room).
A Major Milestone, In The History Of Shoes, Shoes That Didn't Hurt - By the beginning of the 18th century, women were binding there feet and lacing them very tight to make their feet appear smaller. The history of shoes that were usually uncomfortable continued. It was during the 19th century however that things really begin to happen as far as the history of shoes is concerned. Then, in 1818 something quite revolutionary happened. Someone at the end of the day, probably with the usual sore feet to note of something that amazingly no one had apparently noticed before. What this person observed was that his right foot was different from his left foot, a mirror image of sorts. Yet, his two shoes were identical, there being no right shoe or left shoe. Up until that fateful moment, shoes had been made with size taken into consideration, but given a pair of shoes, either shoe could be placed on either foot. Apparently, if you purchased a pair of new shoes, you would walk in them about 50 miles until they were broken in, or your feet were broken in, whichever came first! So, all of a sudden, wearing shoes just got a little more comfortable. The pattern or outline of the sole is called the last, and now we had a right last and a left last to build a pair of shoes around, and not just a single last.
Further Advances, From Black To Brown - Since that time, men's shoes have remained basically the same in many respects. For most of the 19th century and a good part of the 20th, the history of shoes was like the history of the Model-T Ford. You could have any color as long as the color was black. In the 20th century we made the bold step to brown shoes, and later to other colors as well. Still black or brown are generally the colors of choice. The production of shoes moved from hand crafted to mass production during the 19th century. Elias Howe's invention of the sewing machine played a major role here as a few years later, another inventor took Howe's invention and adapted it to work with leather. Other specialized machines followed so that shoes could be produced by the hundreds or even thousands per day, instead of the one to two pairs that a shoemaker could produce.
We End Up Almost Where We Started - In the 19th and 20th centuries women's shoes were produced in a wide variety of styles, and both men’s and women’s shoes were made for specific uses. The discovery by Goodyear of vulcanized rubber eventually led to the rubber sole and heel, and with addition of a canvas top a whole new style of shoes, the sneaker, came into being. Today we have shoes and boots for hiking, climbing and skiing, the sneaker has evolved into the running shoe, the cross trainer, and other specialized athletic shoes. Not much more than 100 years ago the shoelace was invented, replacing the buckle. But among our favorite shoes remain the sandal or Flip Flop, and the moccasin. In the history of shoes, some things have never changed all that much. These days at least, the thong is by the big toe, where it should be, and a distinction is made between the right foot and the left foot, as it should be.