I imagine the same “women are frivolous and trendy and don’t care about practicality” attitude is responsible for the fact that women’s shoes, even really expensive ones, are often glued-together bits of fluff that will fall apart, and may not even be repairable when they do, whereas a good pair of classic men’s dress shoes may last decades and be resoled and repaired over and over.
It's one of my favorite fashion pet peeves. With men's shoes, price and quality neatly correlate. With women's, though? Yeah. You wish. You pay for 'brands' and 'luxury' as price goes up, not quality 😏
@@raraavis7782 Except with cowboy boots! They’re usually (not always, sometimes women’s boots are more expensive and poorer quality there too, but it’s much more rare) made the same for men and women, which makes them a pretty cool outlier. But other than that… so obnoxious. Price and quality have nothing to do with each other at all.
I've had my riding boots for 20 years. Leather. Sewn not glued on sole, 1/2 inch heel. Clean them after every time worn. Look great. I wore those platform shoes in the 70s. Now it's all athletic shoes with arch supports.😅
@@jennypaxton8159 I'm actually thinking about getting a pair...I'm in Germany, though, so it's a bit of a 'specialty item' here. I got the idea, because I live in a larger city and we actually have a shop here, that specializes in them. I always stop and admire the design and craftsmanship through the window, when I pass. They're darn expensive, though. The actual boots are 400-500€, which is a lot of money for me.
Yeah, I made a comment talking about some of the things they have done and it's no longer showing up. I don't know if it's an automatic filter or something but it's disappointing
I wonder if letting people know about how bad BH is on other social media would help? Otherwise, refusing to watch any video with an ad for them is another option
Yes. They are not an ethical company at all. Not good for customers and not good for therapists. If anyone uses BH and likes their therapist, ask them if you can see them off of BH for cash.
I have heard very bad things about this place too. I have a masters degree in clinical psychology. I would question who these guys really are and what their credentials really are 😟😿
But if women do wear attire similar to men then they freaked out even more. Due to issues with knees and ankles i have never been able to wear heels and the amount of flack i got for that is amazing. Apparently not wearing high heels is unprofessional while for the other women wearing high heels was also unprofessional. You can't win.
After breaking my foot, the only reason I got a cane was because I was going to a conference, and my only work shoes at the time were heels. I figured that having the cane would help excuse the fact that I was wearing walking shoes.
@@1One2Three5Eight13 a few years ago I read that there was a big kerfuffle at the Cannes film festival because of the required high heels, one of the actresses had hurt herself and was not wearing heels and was not allowed in. It is so strange to control for footwear that creates damage.
Old timey men: Women an their high heels and their fashion! More evidence they can't be trusted with money! My dad: goes to Home Depot multiple times a week & buys at least 1-3 things we already have 5 of
I have medically weird knees (I have a doctor's note declaring them structurally aberrant) and a moderate generic heel is much more comfortable than a generic flat, as well as nicely grip onto the pedals of a bike when cycling... So I'll almost always wear heels. Now I know where they come from, too. Thank you, polonians!
A few years ago I went to the doctor for knee pain, I was wearing converse shoes (always wore either these or vans), and she told me that was the reason. So from then on I've always worn low heels (even my slippers have them!), and my knees haven't hurt like that since then.
I very much appreciate that you included the Hussaria in this video. Most of the time they are mentioned only during their decline as sort of an off handed jab at the Poles or praised only for their victory over the Ottomans at Vienna. My Polish-American heart rejoiced to hear you include them as spreaders of high heeled fashion in Europe as I was taught this as a teen when I visited Poland by a very patriotic (to Poland It's not a USA exclusive word of concept) museum guide. It was also quipped at that time about how the super long and curled toed shoes of the middle ages (often referred to as jesters shoes) were a Polish fashion first, but nobody cares to remember that Poland has always had more influence than France or England wants the rest of the world to believe. (Krakow, Poland was on one of the two primary silk roads during the middle ages as well.)
When I was growing up in the 90s, I distinctly remember hearing how wearing tennis shoes or other flat soled shoes 24/7 instead of proper shoes with a 2-3 cm heel was bad for your feet and your knees. Child me was always dubious about that seeing as how heeled shoes came pretty late in our evolutionary history, I was told that so did walking on concrete.
I do wish modern surfaces weren’t so hard, I do understand it’s practical. I get so salty when, I can go on a 8-10 hour hike, with my feet barely hurting at the end; however, a few hours at Disneyland, I’m dying, squatting in line for the briefest relief. 😅
@SewingandCaring hey i love that walking stick anecdote...in the mud then u also got a weapon if anyone tries messing with you! but yea most of our modern world is designed to make life easier for **machines** not humans or their bodies. damn shame
As I recall flat shoes for women had a sudden resurgence in the early 1980s when Lady Diana Spencer was seen as being too tall for (then) Prince Charles. I recall hearing a story that for an official portrait he had to stand on a box to make their heights appear more compatible. And she wore flat shoes for many of their appearances together. Prior to that it was difficult to find good looking shoes for women that had low or no heels!
Remember, back in the day, even doctors believed uteri went walkabout through their resident bodies. Knee pain? Wandering womb. Chest pain? Wandering womb. Bad cough? Yeah, it's that pesky baby bag again. High heels leading to infertility is comparatively reasonable.
i find heels themselves really comfortable but it's hard to find boots with heels that are made well otherwise. seemingly no one expects the customer to want to wear heels and still be comfortable...
Tell me about it. And I know for a fact, that it *is* possible, because I have owned such 'unicorns' (haha) in the past. And yet, even most higher priced heeled shoes and boots are ridiculously uncomfortable.
I've had great luck second hand! I've found barely used heels, with a wear pattern very similar to my own, that I can walk in all day long for weeks and they are super sturdy. Never had such comfortable brand new shoes.
@@matildas3177 second hand stores r hard for me, as they're not in malls i have to do a lotttt of walking in order to go to more than one (which i will almost certainly have to do to find what i want in my size), and with my joint pain and fatigue im not particularly inclined to do that with no guarantee i will actually find something i'll like. i do think it's good advice just unfortunately it's not particularly helpful for me. though some of them do have online stores, maybe i should check those more frequently....
I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, so I have excessively high arches, which makes wearing 2-3 inch heels more comfortable than flats (2-2.5 are ideal). If I wear flats too often, it feels like a muscle or tendon gets pulled in my arch. Now that I'm 46, heels make the side of the ball of my foot tender, and having bony, narrow feet doesn't help. I'm stuck between getting arch pain or ball of foot pain. Sigh.
Back in my far-flung youth, I wore high heels every day for work purposes, but they really messed up my feet. At this stage of my life, I have a very pronounced bunion on my right foot, hammertoes on the second toes of both feet, and corns. For the last 30 yrs, I've switched to wearing flats because I got a job that involved a lot of walking around the property. Many years ago, I was called for jury duty where the charge was "assault with a deadly weapon". This involved a "cat fight" between some young women who took their fight to the parking lot of a club. The deadly weapon? One of those girls took off her 3 inch stiletto pumps in an effort to cause injury to another girl by using the shoe as a stabbing device. YIPE!!! I really wanted to be on that panel, but I was excused so I never knew how the case resolved.
Stiletto shoes means you are definitely wearing weapons. So are steelnosed shoes. If you kick with them, it's assault with s deadly weapon (at least in the Netherlands)
There is a Style Theory episode where they tested how lethal various types of shoes are and the results were shocking! Most types of high heels they tested were easily capable of breaking a skull if not causing injuries that would be fatal. Good for an improvised defense if a woman is being attacked!
I worked for a jewelry store in the Summers and over Christmas break while in collge, I could SEE the line in my toenails where I worked, and I wore flats!! (20 years ago they didn't make heels for large and wide feet, they just aren't girly enough)
Another really cool "work" heel: logger boots! There are still several companies in the Northwest corner of the US that manufacture them largely by hand. Nick's being the most famous.
I am a fair skinned person who needs the shade of a hat/parasol. But I hate how hot and itchy a hat gets, and don’t want to have to lug a parasol around all day…this seems like an excellent invention! (Just have to watch out for low clearance doorways 😂)
Oh, Nicole! Please discontinue your partnership with BetterHealth! Google and you'll find dozens of problems with them, including their use of unlicensed "therapists" and many other poor practices. Please!
Yeah, I am scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else brought that up. If she does another one with them as the sponser, I'll be unsubscribing. Already did from Abby. Very disappointed.😓
@@Catglittercrafts Perhaps you should stop criticizing others for giving creators a heads-up about unethical companies. You have no way of knowing whether or not she knows what she's doing. I admire and respect her. She's free to ignore my comment if she wishes.
@@ItsAsparageese Xero and Saguaro are generally considered good entry-level shoes. I don't run, myself, but they make lots of running shoes and sneakers.
@@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs - Wonder Woman, Kate Becket in _Castle,_ as well as other fictional TV female police officers. ^_^ But during the Olympic races, I _rarely_ saw any of the real female competitors in high heels. /s
@@ebonyplummer4621I've had friends and roommates who were exotic dancers. It just takes a little practice and you can full out sprint in 7 inch pleaser heels. Just stay on the ball of your foot, keep your weight off your heel. Same trick for walking in gravel or grass. A stiletto will punch right into grass and you'll fall over backwards if you try to put weight on the heel.
I would love to see your take on the history of politicians' clothing, especially in the US. I find it fascinating/depressing looking at people's comments about the clothing of presidents and presidential candidates, especially how different they are between male and female candidates. Men's clothing choices are barely ever remarked upon, unless they dare to wear a color other than black, dark grey, or navy (think Obama's tan suit or Gore's green suit). Women's clothing is always dissected, however. There's constant headlines about what message the female candidate is trying to send with their outfit and probably a dozen people in the comments bitching about how the outfit was either too girly and "unpresidential" or too "unfeminine".
Look at this from the other viewpoint, men are much more bound by 'conservative' societal expectations of how they dress ... women have greater freedom of what they wear. If a male politician (regardless of party affiliations) turns out in white shoes, sky blue trousers and an orange polo shirt ... he's going to lose; however he may just be on the way to the golf course.
@@kirstenpaff8946 Ron DeSantis did take a lot of flak and mockery for wearing cowboy boots that pretty obviously had lifts in them, then denying it! Which takes us right back to “high heels to increase height”! Women politicians might get more scrutiny *partially* because they have more options, too. A woman politician can wear something other than a blue, black, or gray suit with a tie in their Party’s color and a little American flag lapel pin. More to talk about.
@@iainmc9859 I don’t know, a crazy ensemble like that would probably make me *more* likely to see him favorably than otherwise. It demonstrates he isn’t just a clone of every other politician. 🤷🏼♀️
@@jennypaxton8159 Unfortunately you're probably in the minority. The press would have a field day, much more so than if a female politician had on white shoes, a sky blue skirt (or trousers) and an orange silk scarf. In terms of clothing as a woman you simply have more freedom. I remember being pulled into the office as a trainee by the manager and being told 'don't dress like that', it was considered flamboyant. I had a black fedora and a wooly black scarf on when I entered and exited the workplace, it was cold and I was using public transport. Conform or your card is marked !
This is been a society problem far outside the political arena. Scrutinizing women is a way to push us back into our box. Clothes is just an easy way of doing it. Hair, makeup, or the way we speak...the list goes on. Also, comparing women is an easy way to do it too. Reminds me of Brittany vs Christina in early 2000s. Growing up in 80s and 90s I still remember Hillary and the pant suit controversy 🙄. When women band together change can happen.
I love John McCormack, tenor of the first quarter of last century. In addition to opera, he sang Irish songs.One was "The Garden Where the Praties Grow." One lyric is "She walked right through the world, me boys, without a Grecian Bend." Since I was a child, (now 72), I've always wondered what that meant. Thanks for solving the mystery for me!
There's an episode of Cadfael, The Devil's Novice, where a man is killed and they point out that only a horseman would have worn such heeled boots as they were not made for walking any great distance.
@@sariahmarier42 - What came 1st - _Cadfael_ or _The Name of the Rose?_ _Rose_ includes a lot of religious history and philosophy that made for heavy sledding indeed. The core story of the Medieval monk detective was extremely interesting to me, though. I found the film with Sean Connery to be annoying, but the John Turturro (sp?) series was great, though the plot was added on to.
@@MossyMozart Cadfael came first in 1977 and The Name of the Rose in 1980. I've read them all... The Name of the Rose is darker, more mysterious. Excellent read. Cadfael is an easier read and as well researched.
I love wearing heels as long as they're not over 3 inches. Although, I did wear platforms in the 70s and they were higher because of that. At 70 years old I'd still like to wear them.
The research and detail in this video is exquisite... which is why I'm deeply confused as why you wouldn't apply that same philosophy to your sponsores.
Same. Everyone should know about them by now. If she accepts them again, she's going to lose at least one subscriber. I already unsubbed from Abby over her repeated use of them as a sponser. (Spelling is purposeful)
I love how passionate you are and accurate you are about fashion. Your experience creating fashion items also adds brilliantly to the mix. Thank you so much for your essays. I can't name them simply as posts because they are truly educational!
Much like unmasking a Scooby-Doo villan, i knew the polite outrage against heels must be misogyny. Its nice to point to historical evidence. My favorite geels are from 1690. They are so tiny and pointy and i look at them and think "how do you hold the weight of a person and their 30 lbs of clothes?"
Wherever they originated, women's modern high heels with pointed toes still create the same effect on women as Chinese footbinding did. They artificially point the toe, shorten the Achilles heel, and, create a wobbling walk. My mother said that the reason that old movies showed high heeled bedroom slippers,is because women wore high heels constantly. They couldn't walk in low heels.
I hated heels with a passion for decades, probably because they simply didn't make them in my size. Now I can stand up to an inch, ONLY if the shoe fits great, and with a 9.5 (US womens) 4E (ultra wide) is extremely rare and often quite costly (cheapest pair that fits and lasts more than 50 wears was over $180.) Did that matter to the company that required a suit jacket if you didn't have on heels and a skirt --while paying min wage? NOPE.
I grew up wearing cowboy boots and riding horses. That being said, I tried to wear high heels in high school and found that I had to use heels that were bulkier (more like my cowboy boots) and I never figured out how to walk/stand in stilettos. I also have weak ankles so having a thin heel that is hard to balance on was just asking for a twisted ankle. The heels that I currently own are a pair of cowboy boots, a pair of short boots with a square heel and a pair of American Duchess Camille Women's Edwardian Boots. I do like wearing my heels because it makes me feel nice but I also know that I can be safe walking in them. That being said my go to wardrobe is also from 1890s so my boots work with what I want to wear anyway :P I think that everyone should wear what the want and feel good in, whether it is clothing or shoes or accessories. You should not have to follow what is in fashion or what is trendy at the time. I remember wanting a divided riding skirt way back when I was in junior high and watched Cat Ballou so I was never into following trends. And one of these days I will get to making my divided skirt, I just need to find the right fabric to go with the image that is in my head/hart for this project.
I absolutely love seeing true history in shoes. I did always know men wore them first. What I think is truly awesome is how you can see these and actually make a pair by hand. You must have really strong hands which I do not (RA & age) or I would def be making shoes for my crippled up feet. I so miss wearing high heels or really pretty shoes of any kind.
"Soulier à pont-levis" is an interesting name 😂 It does not just mean "bridge shoe" as "pont-levis" is much more specific of a term and means the type of door that turns into a bridge in medieval castles
@@helenr4300 I looked it up, as I don't know those terms in English but it would rather be the draw bridge apparently. I think the French term "pont-levis" originally would mean something like "bridge that goes up" as it still resembles the verb "lever" that means to get up
I'm a heel hater because people don't realize just how much damage they can do to your feet, calf muscles, knees, and back. Having your balance be on your toes and ball of foot can cause bunions, but it can also cause the calf muscles and Achilles tendon to tighten. That pulls on the knees and hips, and the lower back tends to over compensate when the balance is on the toes. Will you die from it? No. Will you get pain if you wear them daily? almost certainly.
My Texan ass sitting here the whole damn video thinking "What do you mean, *stopped* wearing heels? Come on down to the Houston Rodeo, you'll see a whole mess of stereotypically masculine dudes wearing 2-3 inch heels".... Was starting to worry nothing was gonna be said about cowboy boots! 😅 I had some Northern family *shocked* that at 12 I could instantly walk happily in my first pair of formal heels at a wedding, despite having wobbly ankles and really bad balance.... Not realizing that I'd had a new pair of boots for the rodeo each year since I could remember! A wide/chunky 2.5" heel on a pair of strappy sandals wasn't gonna slow me down any!
Fascinating video. The one area of internalised misogyny I'm still working on is in regard to fashion, so videos like this give me a lot to think about. I've always found the idea that women are inherently bad with money an odd one. My nanna grew up in NE England (where her family have lived for centuries), and there was a strong tradition for the husband to give his wife his earnings so she could manage the household finances and he didn't spend all his pay all down the boozer
I love when several of my favorite things come together. So fun fact, the Hussur feather stays were said to flutter loudly as the calvary would ride into battle. Playing with feathers, one can see how this would be true. Added sound going into a battle would be extra terrifying at the time. Heals definitely make a difference in riding ability and functionality especially when military things need to be done. The Hussurs were peak calvary durring their time.
Btw I'm learning SO much from you, please please never ever delete your blogspot. Your 50s suit (new look) is my dream suit as a beginner. Your interests and knowledge inspired so many of us, it's amazing❤
i had to give up on heels later in my life due to foot problems. I only miss them on the rare occasions I have to wear a nice dress. As you pointed out it is all about the silhouette. A side note. I loved that brief moment when your furry companion made a brief jump cut appearance. ❤
I have loved the Edwardian/Belle Epoch era shoes since watching A Room with a View in 1985. I'm happy to have found a shoe company that makes good quality ones (thanks to Bernadette) so I can fulfill the longing for them!
1920s-50s. I mainly stick to buying Lucky Lou's, Re-mix, B.A. I.T., Rocket Originals, American Duchess shoes, etc now and there are a couple saddle shoe brands I wear.
I have sciatica which radiates down my leg into my foot. I need a heel of at least an inch and a half which alleviates the pain. But not more than 3 inches.
my grammie wore them every day for work as a career woman back in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. it ruined her feet and she has horrible arthritis and bunions etc in later life, only able to wear orthopedic shoes. she wasn't even 5 feet tall. I'm 6 ft. she made me promise that because i was gifted with height, that i wouldn't wear heels every day and ruin my body. and i've kept that promise
I love this sort of history. When I was young it was difficult to access information like this. We would have had to frequent dusty back rooms in libraries. Thanks for doing the hard work for us.👏😁
A broken foot ended my joy of wearing my 4" & 5" heels. I could even run in them. Oh the colors I found, to go with every outfit. They made me feel more womanly.
Great point! Society mandates certain fashions to make it easier to see whether its ok to treat people as less than, whether it's women or medieval Jews or the poor.
Very interesting. It is much appreciated that you show your references. I think very high heels look silly, especially when watching things like the Met Gala, where wearers were barely hobbling. That said, I prefer a low heel which is recommended by my podiatrist, but 2.5" is my max because my feet are so small.
I remember learning how high heels were for created for men in French class because, in French, all shoes are feminine in nature EXCEPT high heels (un haut talon if there is just one high heel, les haut talons for a pair.) It's one of those lessons that have stuck because I can just see Louis XIV of France stopping in the middle of the Hall of Mirrors, throwing his wig hair back and exclaiming, "How dare anyone have heels taller than mine?!"
Love your work, love this video, love your passion and wealth of knowledge. This is the 1st video I’ve seen of yours and I think it’s so incredibly well crafted that I have subscribed to see more, this type of content is fascinating and feels very necessary! Thank-you for formulating and creating videos around your interests and passions!
Stuff like this just reinforces for me how arbitrary gender norms are based on the prevailing culture of the time. As a nonbinary individual, I worry too much if I’m going to come off as a “woman” if I wear one thing over another. Very interesting video!
Love many styles of heels, but my feet are all kinds of wonky because bilateral clubfoot and genetics gave me feet that are too short compared to my height, wider at the ball and narrow at the heel, and no ankle flexibility. It took me until I was in my mid twenties to find a pair of ballet flats that didn't make my ankles bleed. I'm still looking for unicorn heels that don't make me walk like a barbie for a period lasting more than 4 hours.
I don't have the same sort of issues you have, but as someone with feet wider at the balls, with narrow heels and very high arches, flats are the absolute worst. "Flat" shoes when they actually fit are not actually flats, and I've had this idea in my head for all my life that there's been something wrong with *me* because I can't wear ballet flats, but the truth is, no, those shoes are just for people with extremely flat feet, or who don't really walk much at all, *or* they're not as minimal as media likes to make them appear, because I've seen people step out of ballet flats that have as much structure as running shoes.
Watching a video about shoes when you're hard of hearing: Play the video Rewind a bunch Turn off captions Watch, looking at the shoes Turn captions back on again Repeat... 🤣🤣 Normally this is a frustration because people don't account for needing to have captions so they just position things thoughtlessly, but in this case, unless the pictures are presented upside down or people start wearing shoes on their heads, not much we can do about it... Great video though, i had no idea how much there was to know about high heeled shoes. Thanks 👍
I really struggle with this as somebody who is nonbinary and agender. There's a lot of really cool heeled shoes out there but because they are so heavily coded as "women's shoes" these days I end up feeling uncomfortable wearing them and don't like how it increases the chance of me being misgendered (accidentally or purposely). Thankfully my style leans more toward punk and goth and there are quite a few higher heeled styles in that category which lean more gender neutral (and it's not uncommon to see men wearing higher heels in those subcultures too). But the only way I can cope with it when I'm dancing (Argentine tango, where heels are very helpful for the follower) is to think of it as donning a costume specific to a role rather than just being a person wearing high heels. which is odd. I wish we hadn't gendered clothing items so much in our society.
I am a cisgender female, and I COMPLETELY agree. Gendering products, activities, and articles of clothing is one of the stupidest things humans do. It needlessly divides us.
Exquisite education and production quality as always. Thanks bunches for this enthralling, insightful, video peppered with humor of the time period as well as yours. Your voice is so sweet, soothing, and charming that it almost turns the audio into an ASMR relaxing experience. Fangirl here.
It's weirdly satisfying to know Elizabeth I and I have similar tastes in riding boots, nice to also learn from you the etiology of high heels so aligned with riding in general too. Thank you for the history lesson!
Put most of your weight on the balls of your feet, i.e., walk on tiptoe. It's definitely not for everyone. That's my trick to learn a "high-heel" gait if you have to wear such shoes.
I took a class on how to walk in heels for burlesque performance. The advice that helped me the most was with each step imagine you are putting the middle of your foot down. I found it helped me walk more naturally.
Find a shoe that puts the actual heel under your heel. That way you're back, hips, knees and ankles align like they're supposed to. Shoes modeled on Edwardian/Belle Epoch era shoes are like that and I love them! I have bunions and a neuroma and I can walk in them without a problem. Also, a heel doesn't have to be 4 inches. I stick with 2 3/8 to 2 5/8 high and they're still "high". Also, I think Nicole has a video about how to adjust shoes to fit you (but it might be on her former employers channel). Please don't take this as me trying to force you to wear heels, I'm just saying there are alternatives to the nightmare of modern heels.
I used to be terrible in heels because I was very clumsy in general. Just walking in regular shoes was hard enough. Doing yoga for a few years helped me improve my balance and body awareness in general, and now I can do heels decently as well.
@@momolove47 All of these comments! A difference in heel height and heel type makes a change in how your body balances. Being aware of how your body works (yoga) would definitely assist with any movement.
Okay so.. Let me make one thing clear. I am an avid watcher od Nicole's content and definitely a huge fan.And, to also make this clear: I did really enjoy watching this video. As I always do. Now... I got hit with a pet peeve however, right around the 1 minute mark. The thing about the mud is: It is wrong. Sorry to say it like that. Noone (or at least very very very few people) ever was like "let's wear plateau boots to get out of the mud". I have no idea what the englisch word for it is, but the medieval "trippen" (german word), a kind of wood "sole" thing you can strap under your boot, are meant to make you appear larger, to an extend help you to not get as cold of feet, and to help you not kill your soles instantly. So, yeah, they where not meant to keep you out of the mud (that was, in large parts, not even there). The only thing you could say about dirt is that outside is dusty and you can stop too much dust to enter the house. Dust. Not mud. Same with Chopines. They where definitely there to make you appear larger and to look pretty. Or why would anyone embroider fancy silks to wade through mud with it? Not there to get you out of water for sure. And by the way the same is the case for the "Geta" from Japan. Which are made to, not kidding, sound fancy. There even is an actual japanese word to describe "the clacking sound that Geta make" - Those shoes did ofcourse have function. But the mud thing...seriously... I hear a ton of historians and archeologists scream out in terror and be silenced forever. Yes I am aware there are sources (archeologists writing about it, museums telling the story) about the medieval muddy street and the plateau boots to get through it. None of the shown shoes are able to get you through mud, actually, they are simply not designed in a way to help you get through it. in fact you would most likely just fall face down in the mud. The picture of the muddy medieval street is plain wrong and in professional circles really a laughing matter by now. Yes there are (sadly) still historians who believe this tale, as it is by now told so often it is almost engraved in our collective memory. One might say we all have mandela effect regarding muddy medieval streets. - It is ofcourse possible there is some kind of plateau boot somewhere in the world that actually have the primary function to raise you out of dirt. Not, however, anywhere in the western world and not with the shown examples
Considering the people who do state this theory I think most of us here would require some references and resources to actually believe this information. None of the information you have presented actually explain why or how, which makes it seem as just another theory, posed by someone without proof. You write like you've spoken to people in eras long before you could possibly have lived, rather than in a way that makes it seem like you're an actual autority on the subject, which makes it all the more likely what you're saying will be discarded.
Black high hills and flesh colored nylon stockings were part of my Class "A" uniform when I was in the Women's Army Corps. I could not run and climb very fast (and safely) in high hills. My former husband took up wearing Cowboy boots everywhere he went (because the hills on the boots made him taller). The problems I have with my feet, legs, and lower back were caused by wearing high hills when I was young.
I remember, with a slight bit of embarrassment, having a pair of high heel shoes in 1975 or so. Chunky rubber 3” heels. The seventies were not a very fashionable decade.
Women are the emotional ones, yet it’s the men who are throwing tantrums over women’s fashion 🤔 Makes total sense to me! Having ridden horses in both athletic shoes and in cowboy boots, I have to say having a heeled shoe makes it so much easier to use stirrups! I can absolutely see why heels were invented for riding in the first place!
My Podiatrist doesn't mind heels. But Stilettos different story. Not because it makes their organs wiggle around. But prolonged and constant use causes the fat pads on feet to thin out. And over a period of time it can come down to foot bones pressure right against the skin. Ouch causing a great deal of damage. So once and awhile not a problem all the time not a good idea. 😉 Thanks for the Video. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🌺
I love 1 to 2 inch heels and can actually wear 5-inch heels without much difficulty, but not for extended stretches of time. I don’t comprehend when people call my Docs which have a 1-inch heel “high heels” when that indicates at least 2 inches to most people. Especially when they just triple down on talking about how “weird” it is to see me in “high heels” about oxfords with one inch of a very chunky heel, when I also walk barefoot with my heels slightly elevated relative to my toes.
One time a man commented on my high heels ... I was wearing flip flops. This was in a very casual setting highly appropriate for such a casual shoe.I responded with 'the only thing more casual would be a slipper' and 'these are nothing compared to your wife's 5 inch stilletos'. He had no response. As a petite 5 ft woman I'm very accustomed to men attempting the 'soft bully'.
I have the same necklace you’re wearing in this video 😮 I had assumed when I thrifted it (and after light research) that it was from the 1920s but wow. Do you know anything more about it? It’s such a cool piece
What interesting, is actually, at least in modern regular stirrups the heel actually does noting, cos your feet supposed to stay not at that plays with the heel, but on the wider place of your feet (I hope I'm being understood lol). But looking at this early pictures you can see they actually have longer stirrups then now. So it would make more sense to have heeled boots. And the horse riding traditions do tend to lean towards boots, cos it's easier on your legs when you spend time in a saddle. Like people of steppes in middle ages and now would wear boots. But in modern horseriding it's actually considered more safe to not to wear heels, not high at least. Looking at your pictures I ould probably ask for definition of high when it comes to heels, since many af the examples I wouldn't consider high, but just heels, like normal elevation. Anyway, that was a very interesting dive, thanks a lot, always loving that type of content from you, well researched and with lots of pictorial evidence!
I was aware that they began as riding shoes, but not much more than that. the very division between what was for men vs women was fascinating (I would have preferred the men's shoe and not the ladies, as well done leather is so classy). Heels are the bane of my existence. Whenever they were forced on me on a few occasions it was pain central. Ditched the last and only pair I ever had for choir performances in HS and never looked back.
Flat shoes (ballet pumps) ruined my feet - I didn't know when I wore them non stop in my twenties. I have very high arches and never wore wedges or even a gentle heel. I have bunions and plantar fasciitis... All has improved since wearing Reiker shoes with wedge heels... different kinds. Amazing video. ❤
As someone who has very high arches and struggle so much with finding low shoes that have any support at all. Even like, sports shoes. A good low heel supports the arch really well, and I look with a mix of envy and disbelief of images of 50s shoes. HOW? They follow the arch! No shoe does that!
Thank you Nicole!!! What a fascinating and informative youtube blog. I love fashion (& have always been conscious of fhe fact that both in shoes and orher clothing items - fashion has a long history of being "fluid"!! It seems that even in the 21st century - the post-WW2 - stereo-type-genderfication of "fashion" is still with us - albeit that, interestingly, even though 90+% of women enjoy the gender stereotyping 'right' to wear pretty well ANY clothes that they may feel comfortable in for expressing their identity - and more often than not chose what in the pre-WW2 period would have been regarded as "mens" clothes (eg long pants & flat practical shoes vs skirts and ridiculously "car to bar" stillettos) - no one does (or would even dare) suggest that those 90+% of women who chose to wear trousers and flat "practical" - ergonomic shoes are "cross-dressers". However, any "man" (save for a Scot wearing a Kilt) who would prefer to express their identity by wearing a skirt, or high heels, or "more feminine "comfortable" and "soft" fitting and looking clothes will 90+% of the time be negatively gender stereotyped as "cross-dressersl, and not really normal (or in TRUMP / MAGA world - needing to be physically and mentally removed from society - because of their "inherently evil and sinful proclivities ... as plainly demonstrated from their clothing choices!!!!" Thank you so much, Nicole, for bringing accurate - factual - historical perspective to the important world of "fashion" and, in particular, the "fashion" of High Heeled Shoes!!!! ❤❤❤❤
High heels, or shoes in general are awful for me, high heels cause sprained ankles and toe pain for me, regular shoes cause foot pain for me, so barefoot it is when I can. The human foot isn’t made for high heels or pointy toe parts, I remember as kid seeing my mum’s friends with deformed feet at an early age due to high heels, my mum included, and later in my early 20s saw same aged women as my with deformed feet as well. I had already long decided that would not be me! I have worn high heels here and there to a party, and still do, but that is only a few times a year. And guess what? I still have the same shape feet as I had as a teen. Normal no deformed toes, no big knuckle-like-lump at the side base of my big toes (very common due to high heels) I wore special designed shoes for deformed ankles as child and those were so bad, the leather would tear my skin open and I had bloody shoes, it would happen and happen again, ruining the shoes. It also made me not want to wear shoes at all. But as adult I solves that, fabric shoes for me that are flat ans do not have pointy toes, pretty simple, but still available in fun colours and prints. And guess what? No more deformed ankles now.
I spent 2 years looking for a good leather Victorian bootie with a low 1 1/2 to 2 inch heel . What i found were ONLY 3 inch unless you bought custom made so.... I have 2 pair of close to 600$ of cute shoes that i have only tried on ! Still looking for an affordable low kitten heel. Im so sad i HATE high heels when i wanted an everyday cute shoe !
@@WVgrl59I know plenty who wont date a guy if he is shorter then them with heels on. But I do know a few that really love to use it as an excuse not to wear them even though I don't care about heels. It's not like heels make a woman physically stronger and agile either, they are more vulnerable wearing them and uncomfortable looking. So I dunno why girls even find it awkward being around a guy shorter in heels, like you're not suddenly more manlier and stronger then him just cause you're in heels.
@@jamiemohan2049the cultural conditioning that the man should be taller and stronger and "manly", aka John Wayne-like. My daughter has always been tall, and could never figure out why short guys always liked her. She did finally find a guy taller than her, but she never liked wearing heels because of her height.
I've never worn anything higher than a kitten heel, and gave up all heels decades ago. As a result, I don't have any of the foot problems my Mom had in the 1950s.
Brilliant! I've done historical research and know how hard it is to find info on artsy details. We have a ton of info on wars and killing each other. How we dressed is another issue. I know this took hours and probably years to put together. I wonder about one thing. I always read about shoes being buttoned, and that one had to use a button hook. I assume from this that button shoes weren't that big a deal. What amazed me most is how much they look like contemporary footwear. Thanks so much.
Came to the comments to see if anyone was talking about that. If I see another vid with sponsered ads from them, I will be unsubscribing, like I already have from Abby. Very disappointed.
I actually have two kinds of favourite Shoe types: (gothy) Boots and extreme High heels. I lastly treatened myself with a pair of Pleaser High heel plateau boots for Poledancing and i love them. Unfortunatly they came in the wrong size but i still want them.
Great video. Thank you. I love that shoes are the cause of emotional distress and bad health, meanwhile corsets were ACTUALLY a problem for woman’s health. No doubt they wouldn’t want woman’s silhouette to change!
I imagine the same “women are frivolous and trendy and don’t care about practicality” attitude is responsible for the fact that women’s shoes, even really expensive ones, are often glued-together bits of fluff that will fall apart, and may not even be repairable when they do, whereas a good pair of classic men’s dress shoes may last decades and be resoled and repaired over and over.
It's one of my favorite fashion pet peeves. With men's shoes, price and quality neatly correlate. With women's, though? Yeah. You wish. You pay for 'brands' and 'luxury' as price goes up, not quality 😏
@@raraavis7782 Except with cowboy boots! They’re usually (not always, sometimes women’s boots are more expensive and poorer quality there too, but it’s much more rare) made the same for men and women, which makes them a pretty cool outlier. But other than that… so obnoxious. Price and quality have nothing to do with each other at all.
I've had my riding boots for 20 years. Leather. Sewn not glued on sole, 1/2 inch heel. Clean them after every time worn. Look great. I wore those platform shoes in the 70s. Now it's all athletic shoes with arch supports.😅
@@jennypaxton8159
I'm actually thinking about getting a pair...I'm in Germany, though, so it's a bit of a 'specialty item' here. I got the idea, because I live in a larger city and we actually have a shop here, that specializes in them. I always stop and admire the design and craftsmanship through the window, when I pass.
They're darn expensive, though. The actual boots are 400-500€, which is a lot of money for me.
@@raraavis7782ig then buy second hand and put in an arch support insole
I love this video! But please do not take Better Help's sponsorships. They are very scummy when you look into it.
oh god not again
Yeah, I made a comment talking about some of the things they have done and it's no longer showing up. I don't know if it's an automatic filter or something but it's disappointing
I wonder if letting people know about how bad BH is on other social media would help? Otherwise, refusing to watch any video with an ad for them is another option
Yes. They are not an ethical company at all. Not good for customers and not good for therapists.
If anyone uses BH and likes their therapist, ask them if you can see them off of BH for cash.
I have heard very bad things about this place too. I have a masters degree in clinical psychology. I would question who these guys really are and what their credentials really are 😟😿
But if women do wear attire similar to men then they freaked out even more.
Due to issues with knees and ankles i have never been able to wear heels and the amount of flack i got for that is amazing. Apparently not wearing high heels is unprofessional while for the other women wearing high heels was also unprofessional. You can't win.
After breaking my foot, the only reason I got a cane was because I was going to a conference, and my only work shoes at the time were heels. I figured that having the cane would help excuse the fact that I was wearing walking shoes.
@@1One2Three5Eight13 a few years ago I read that there was a big kerfuffle at the Cannes film festival because of the required high heels, one of the actresses had hurt herself and was not wearing heels and was not allowed in. It is so strange to control for footwear that creates damage.
@@lenabreijer1311 yeah like what do high heels have to do with viewing films. You’re sitting in a chair. Goofy ahh film festival .
Old timey men: Women an their high heels and their fashion! More evidence they can't be trusted with money!
My dad: goes to Home Depot multiple times a week & buys at least 1-3 things we already have 5 of
I have medically weird knees (I have a doctor's note declaring them structurally aberrant) and a moderate generic heel is much more comfortable than a generic flat, as well as nicely grip onto the pedals of a bike when cycling... So I'll almost always wear heels. Now I know where they come from, too. Thank you, polonians!
I am the same way!
Same here! Medically weird knees and naturally flat feet - a flat shoe can be painful after a long day!
A few years ago I went to the doctor for knee pain, I was wearing converse shoes (always wore either these or vans), and she told me that was the reason. So from then on I've always worn low heels (even my slippers have them!), and my knees haven't hurt like that since then.
I very much appreciate that you included the Hussaria in this video. Most of the time they are mentioned only during their decline as sort of an off handed jab at the Poles or praised only for their victory over the Ottomans at Vienna. My Polish-American heart rejoiced to hear you include them as spreaders of high heeled fashion in Europe as I was taught this as a teen when I visited Poland by a very patriotic (to Poland It's not a USA exclusive word of concept) museum guide. It was also quipped at that time about how the super long and curled toed shoes of the middle ages (often referred to as jesters shoes) were a Polish fashion first, but nobody cares to remember that Poland has always had more influence than France or England wants the rest of the world to believe. (Krakow, Poland was on one of the two primary silk roads during the middle ages as well.)
Polish musicians have had a large influence classically.
When I was growing up in the 90s, I distinctly remember hearing how wearing tennis shoes or other flat soled shoes 24/7 instead of proper shoes with a 2-3 cm heel was bad for your feet and your knees. Child me was always dubious about that seeing as how heeled shoes came pretty late in our evolutionary history, I was told that so did walking on concrete.
We do need additional cushion under our heel to deal with modern hard surfaces, yes. It doesn't have to be in the current format, but it does help!
I do wish modern surfaces weren’t so hard, I do understand it’s practical. I get so salty when, I can go on a 8-10 hour hike, with my feet barely hurting at the end; however, a few hours at Disneyland, I’m dying, squatting in line for the briefest relief. 😅
@SewingandCaring hey i love that walking stick anecdote...in the mud then u also got a weapon if anyone tries messing with you!
but yea most of our modern world is designed to make life easier for **machines** not humans or their bodies. damn shame
As I recall flat shoes for women had a sudden resurgence in the early 1980s when Lady Diana Spencer was seen as being too tall for (then) Prince Charles. I recall hearing a story that for an official portrait he had to stand on a box to make their heights appear more compatible. And she wore flat shoes for many of their appearances together. Prior to that it was difficult to find good looking shoes for women that had low or no heels!
@@JenInOz poor diana, she was always too good for him!
A woman has to always cater to male egos. Poor Diana.
Remember, back in the day, even doctors believed uteri went walkabout through their resident bodies. Knee pain? Wandering womb. Chest pain? Wandering womb. Bad cough? Yeah, it's that pesky baby bag again. High heels leading to infertility is comparatively reasonable.
Lmfao...uteri?😂
No that’s not true! Doctors weren’t that dumb. How do you explain that men experience these pains too?
Seriously, male doctors weren't even trying with medical care for women, it was just a cynical excuse to control women and nothing else.
@@BeansPredi-ch6xk Wandering testicles?😂
@@cmaden78 That is indeed the plural for that Latin word (unless you use the nativized "uteruses" of course).
i find heels themselves really comfortable but it's hard to find boots with heels that are made well otherwise. seemingly no one expects the customer to want to wear heels and still be comfortable...
Tell me about it. And I know for a fact, that it *is* possible, because I have owned such 'unicorns' (haha) in the past. And yet, even most higher priced heeled shoes and boots are ridiculously uncomfortable.
I've had great luck second hand! I've found barely used heels, with a wear pattern very similar to my own, that I can walk in all day long for weeks and they are super sturdy. Never had such comfortable brand new shoes.
@@matildas3177 second hand stores r hard for me, as they're not in malls i have to do a lotttt of walking in order to go to more than one (which i will almost certainly have to do to find what i want in my size), and with my joint pain and fatigue im not particularly inclined to do that with no guarantee i will actually find something i'll like. i do think it's good advice just unfortunately it's not particularly helpful for me. though some of them do have online stores, maybe i should check those more frequently....
I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, so I have excessively high arches, which makes wearing 2-3 inch heels more comfortable than flats (2-2.5 are ideal). If I wear flats too often, it feels like a muscle or tendon gets pulled in my arch. Now that I'm 46, heels make the side of the ball of my foot tender, and having bony, narrow feet doesn't help. I'm stuck between getting arch pain or ball of foot pain. Sigh.
@@matildas3177 - Pre-broken in! Good idea.
Back in my far-flung youth, I wore high heels every day for work purposes, but they really messed up my feet. At this stage of my life, I have a very pronounced bunion on my right foot, hammertoes on the second toes of both feet, and corns. For the last 30 yrs, I've switched to wearing flats because I got a job that involved a lot of walking around the property. Many years ago, I was called for jury duty where the charge was "assault with a deadly weapon". This involved a "cat fight" between some young women who took their fight to the parking lot of a club. The deadly weapon? One of those girls took off her 3 inch stiletto pumps in an effort to cause injury to another girl by using the shoe as a stabbing device. YIPE!!! I really wanted to be on that panel, but I was excused so I never knew how the case resolved.
This is the best comment I've ever read in my whole 25 years, thank you
Stiletto shoes means you are definitely wearing weapons.
So are steelnosed shoes. If you kick with them, it's assault with s deadly weapon (at least in the Netherlands)
Those examples of heels don’t seem to be “high heels”.
There is a Style Theory episode where they tested how lethal various types of shoes are and the results were shocking! Most types of high heels they tested were easily capable of breaking a skull if not causing injuries that would be fatal. Good for an improvised defense if a woman is being attacked!
I worked for a jewelry store in the Summers and over Christmas break while in collge, I could SEE the line in my toenails where I worked, and I wore flats!! (20 years ago they didn't make heels for large and wide feet, they just aren't girly enough)
I kept on thinking of Ron DeSantis being roundly mocked for wearing lifts in his Luccheses and denying it! 😂
Another really cool "work" heel: logger boots! There are still several companies in the Northwest corner of the US that manufacture them largely by hand. Nick's being the most famous.
That little satirical drawing of the woman with her hat mounted on a sort of curved rod over head like a halo is kind of fabulous…
I am a fair skinned person who needs the shade of a hat/parasol. But I hate how hot and itchy a hat gets, and don’t want to have to lug a parasol around all day…this seems like an excellent invention! (Just have to watch out for low clearance doorways 😂)
Oh, Nicole! Please discontinue your partnership with BetterHealth! Google and you'll find dozens of problems with them, including their use of unlicensed "therapists" and many other poor practices. Please!
Yeah, I am scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else brought that up. If she does another one with them as the sponser, I'll be unsubscribing. Already did from Abby. Very disappointed.😓
I really just need you all to stop telling creators who they should and shouldn’t take sponsorships from. She knows what she’s doing.
@@Catglittercrafts Perhaps you should stop criticizing others for giving creators a heads-up about unethical companies. You have no way of knowing whether or not she knows what she's doing. I admire and respect her. She's free to ignore my comment if she wishes.
i'm glad i'm not ruled by emotion like women.... *goes out and buys a sports car i can't afford* 🙂
🤔😉😂
😂😂😂
You mean a Bugatti isn't the absolute picture of sensible choices😂
Me: only wears zero-drop barefoot shoes
Also me: watching this video with Great Interest
Same!😂😂😂😂
Either of y'all happen to have recommendations for affordable barefoot running shoe brands that jive with wider feet?
@@ItsAsparageese Xero and Saguaro are generally considered good entry-level shoes. I don't run, myself, but they make lots of running shoes and sneakers.
@@_oaktree_ Cool, thanks! I'll check them out!
some men have never seen a woman sprint while wearing stilettos and it shows
I'm a woman and I never seen a woman sprint in stilettos. If I tried that I would break my ankle.
@@thecryingcryptid just gotta find that balance point over the ball of the foot. Like toe running.
Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World lmao
@@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs - Wonder Woman, Kate Becket in _Castle,_ as well as other fictional TV female police officers. ^_^
But during the Olympic races, I _rarely_ saw any of the real female competitors in high heels. /s
@@ebonyplummer4621I've had friends and roommates who were exotic dancers. It just takes a little practice and you can full out sprint in 7 inch pleaser heels. Just stay on the ball of your foot, keep your weight off your heel. Same trick for walking in gravel or grass. A stiletto will punch right into grass and you'll fall over backwards if you try to put weight on the heel.
I would love to see your take on the history of politicians' clothing, especially in the US. I find it fascinating/depressing looking at people's comments about the clothing of presidents and presidential candidates, especially how different they are between male and female candidates. Men's clothing choices are barely ever remarked upon, unless they dare to wear a color other than black, dark grey, or navy (think Obama's tan suit or Gore's green suit). Women's clothing is always dissected, however. There's constant headlines about what message the female candidate is trying to send with their outfit and probably a dozen people in the comments bitching about how the outfit was either too girly and "unpresidential" or too "unfeminine".
Look at this from the other viewpoint, men are much more bound by 'conservative' societal expectations of how they dress ... women have greater freedom of what they wear. If a male politician (regardless of party affiliations) turns out in white shoes, sky blue trousers and an orange polo shirt ... he's going to lose; however he may just be on the way to the golf course.
@@kirstenpaff8946 Ron DeSantis did take a lot of flak and mockery for wearing cowboy boots that pretty obviously had lifts in them, then denying it! Which takes us right back to “high heels to increase height”!
Women politicians might get more scrutiny *partially* because they have more options, too. A woman politician can wear something other than a blue, black, or gray suit with a tie in their Party’s color and a little American flag lapel pin. More to talk about.
@@iainmc9859 I don’t know, a crazy ensemble like that would probably make me *more* likely to see him favorably than otherwise. It demonstrates he isn’t just a clone of every other politician. 🤷🏼♀️
@@jennypaxton8159 Unfortunately you're probably in the minority. The press would have a field day, much more so than if a female politician had on white shoes, a sky blue skirt (or trousers) and an orange silk scarf. In terms of clothing as a woman you simply have more freedom.
I remember being pulled into the office as a trainee by the manager and being told 'don't dress like that', it was considered flamboyant. I had a black fedora and a wooly black scarf on when I entered and exited the workplace, it was cold and I was using public transport. Conform or your card is marked !
This is been a society problem far outside the political arena. Scrutinizing women is a way to push us back into our box. Clothes is just an easy way of doing it. Hair, makeup, or the way we speak...the list goes on. Also, comparing women is an easy way to do it too. Reminds me of Brittany vs Christina in early 2000s.
Growing up in 80s and 90s I still remember Hillary and the pant suit controversy 🙄.
When women band together change can happen.
I love John McCormack, tenor of the first quarter of last century. In addition to opera, he sang Irish songs.One was "The Garden Where the Praties Grow."
One lyric is "She walked right through the world, me boys, without a Grecian Bend." Since I was a child, (now 72), I've always wondered what that meant. Thanks for solving the mystery for me!
7:23 Common people would not have owned or ridden horses. So the heel implies status specifically in terms of mobility literally and socially.
Good point!
FYI : It’s HEEL, not heal.
You’re welcome!
@nanwilder2853 I have a brain injury. It took me five years to learn how to read and write again. So you can take your superiority and flush it!
There's an episode of Cadfael, The Devil's Novice, where a man is killed and they point out that only a horseman would have worn such heeled boots as they were not made for walking any great distance.
Cadfael is such a great series! The author had a history degree and everything was extensively researched, as best the times allowed.
@SusanYeske701 I've read all the books and the tv series is as close as they come as adaptations. Huge fan of both!
@@sariahmarier42 - What came 1st - _Cadfael_ or _The Name of the Rose?_
_Rose_ includes a lot of religious history and philosophy that made for heavy sledding indeed. The core story of the Medieval monk detective was extremely interesting to me, though. I found the film with Sean Connery to be annoying, but the John Turturro (sp?) series was great, though the plot was added on to.
@@MossyMozart Cadfael came first in 1977 and The Name of the Rose in 1980. I've read them all... The Name of the Rose is darker, more mysterious. Excellent read. Cadfael is an easier read and as well researched.
I love wearing heels as long as they're not over 3 inches. Although, I did wear platforms in the 70s and they were higher because of that. At 70 years old I'd still like to wear them.
I am quite comfortable in platforms, but high heels slay me. All that teetering feels dangerous.
The research and detail in this video is exquisite... which is why I'm deeply confused as why you wouldn't apply that same philosophy to your sponsores.
Same. Everyone should know about them by now. If she accepts them again, she's going to lose at least one subscriber. I already unsubbed from Abby over her repeated use of them as a sponser. (Spelling is purposeful)
Completely agree, They are historians, research is what they do for a living!
I love how passionate you are and accurate you are about fashion. Your experience creating fashion items also adds brilliantly to the mix. Thank you so much for your essays. I can't name them simply as posts because they are truly educational!
Much like unmasking a Scooby-Doo villan, i knew the polite outrage against heels must be misogyny. Its nice to point to historical evidence.
My favorite geels are from 1690. They are so tiny and pointy and i look at them and think "how do you hold the weight of a person and their 30 lbs of clothes?"
Rich women had servants in flat shoes.
They also got
And they would have gotten away with it too! If it weren't for....😂❤
Wherever they originated, women's modern high heels with pointed toes still create the same effect on women as Chinese footbinding did. They artificially point the toe, shorten the Achilles heel, and, create a wobbling walk.
My mother said that the reason that old movies showed high heeled bedroom slippers,is because women wore high heels constantly. They couldn't walk in low heels.
According to you, I should force myself to wear high heels that are painful for me, because otherwise I'm misogynistic.
@@melissagerber7231I totally had trouble walking in flats for a long time. So this seems plausible.
I love wearing high heels, not often, but when I wear them I feel great. (it needs to be the right shoes that fit me properly) :)
I hated heels with a passion for decades, probably because they simply didn't make them in my size. Now I can stand up to an inch, ONLY if the shoe fits great, and with a 9.5 (US womens) 4E (ultra wide) is extremely rare and often quite costly (cheapest pair that fits and lasts more than 50 wears was over $180.) Did that matter to the company that required a suit jacket if you didn't have on heels and a skirt --while paying min wage? NOPE.
I grew up wearing cowboy boots and riding horses. That being said, I tried to wear high heels in high school and found that I had to use heels that were bulkier (more like my cowboy boots) and I never figured out how to walk/stand in stilettos. I also have weak ankles so having a thin heel that is hard to balance on was just asking for a twisted ankle. The heels that I currently own are a pair of cowboy boots, a pair of short boots with a square heel and a pair of American Duchess Camille Women's Edwardian Boots. I do like wearing my heels because it makes me feel nice but I also know that I can be safe walking in them. That being said my go to wardrobe is also from 1890s so my boots work with what I want to wear anyway :P
I think that everyone should wear what the want and feel good in, whether it is clothing or shoes or accessories. You should not have to follow what is in fashion or what is trendy at the time. I remember wanting a divided riding skirt way back when I was in junior high and watched Cat Ballou so I was never into following trends. And one of these days I will get to making my divided skirt, I just need to find the right fabric to go with the image that is in my head/hart for this project.
I absolutely love seeing true history in shoes. I did always know men wore them first. What I think is truly awesome is how you can see these and actually make a pair by hand. You must have really strong hands which I do not (RA & age) or I would def be making shoes for my crippled up feet. I so miss wearing high heels or really pretty shoes of any kind.
"Soulier à pont-levis" is an interesting name 😂 It does not just mean "bridge shoe" as "pont-levis" is much more specific of a term and means the type of door that turns into a bridge in medieval castles
a port cullis, where the draw bridge goes? (English borrowing and changing, Norman's building castles)
@@helenr4300 I looked it up, as I don't know those terms in English but it would rather be the draw bridge apparently. I think the French term "pont-levis" originally would mean something like "bridge that goes up" as it still resembles the verb "lever" that means to get up
I'm a heel hater because people don't realize just how much damage they can do to your feet, calf muscles, knees, and back. Having your balance be on your toes and ball of foot can cause bunions, but it can also cause the calf muscles and Achilles tendon to tighten. That pulls on the knees and hips, and the lower back tends to over compensate when the balance is on the toes.
Will you die from it? No. Will you get pain if you wear them daily? almost certainly.
My Texan ass sitting here the whole damn video thinking "What do you mean, *stopped* wearing heels? Come on down to the Houston Rodeo, you'll see a whole mess of stereotypically masculine dudes wearing 2-3 inch heels"....
Was starting to worry nothing was gonna be said about cowboy boots! 😅
I had some Northern family *shocked* that at 12 I could instantly walk happily in my first pair of formal heels at a wedding, despite having wobbly ankles and really bad balance.... Not realizing that I'd had a new pair of boots for the rodeo each year since I could remember! A wide/chunky 2.5" heel on a pair of strappy sandals wasn't gonna slow me down any!
Fascinating video. The one area of internalised misogyny I'm still working on is in regard to fashion, so videos like this give me a lot to think about.
I've always found the idea that women are inherently bad with money an odd one. My nanna grew up in NE England (where her family have lived for centuries), and there was a strong tradition for the husband to give his wife his earnings so she could manage the household finances and he didn't spend all his pay all down the boozer
I love when several of my favorite things come together. So fun fact, the Hussur feather stays were said to flutter loudly as the calvary would ride into battle. Playing with feathers, one can see how this would be true. Added sound going into a battle would be extra terrifying at the time. Heals definitely make a difference in riding ability and functionality especially when military things need to be done. The Hussurs were peak calvary durring their time.
Btw I'm learning SO much from you, please please never ever delete your blogspot. Your 50s suit (new look) is my dream suit as a beginner. Your interests and knowledge inspired so many of us, it's amazing❤
i had to give up on heels later in my life due to foot problems. I only miss them on the rare occasions I have to wear a nice dress. As you pointed out it is all about the silhouette.
A side note. I loved that brief moment when your furry companion made a brief jump cut appearance. ❤
What's your favorite era for high heels? I've always been fond of the 1918-1922 range, but those 1660s slap sole styles are just so interesting!
I have loved the Edwardian/Belle Epoch era shoes since watching A Room with a View in 1985. I'm happy to have found a shoe company that makes good quality ones (thanks to Bernadette) so I can fulfill the longing for them!
That's right! I saw a photo of my grandmother wearing the best heeled shoes in a out 1924-25-ish. I was so sad we didn't have such nice shoes.
1920's shoes are lovely. Female silhouette was awful , but the shoes had the most feminine heels, IMO, and quite comfortable as well.
1920s-50s. I mainly stick to buying Lucky Lou's, Re-mix, B.A. I.T., Rocket Originals, American Duchess shoes, etc now and there are a couple saddle shoe brands I wear.
Thank you for this VERY interesting trip through the history of heeled footwear, Nicole.
I love all of the wonderful photos and illustrations!😃👍
I have sciatica which radiates down my leg into my foot. I need a heel of at least an inch and a half which alleviates the pain. But not more than 3 inches.
I found that varying my heel heights helped alleviate plantar fasciitis. Also, no more than 3 (well, 2 3/8 to 2 5/8 anyway) for me either!
I have sciatica too. I can't wear heels at all.
@@lornahuddleston1453 I wear "nurse shoes" due to a tiny bit of fascia issues.
my grammie wore them every day for work as a career woman back in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. it ruined her feet and she has horrible arthritis and bunions etc in later life, only able to wear orthopedic shoes. she wasn't even 5 feet tall. I'm 6 ft. she made me promise that because i was gifted with height, that i wouldn't wear heels every day and ruin my body.
and i've kept that promise
I love this sort of history. When I was young it was difficult to access information like this. We would have had to frequent dusty back rooms in libraries.
Thanks for doing the hard work for us.👏😁
A broken foot ended my joy of wearing my 4" & 5" heels. I could even run in them. Oh the colors I found, to go with every outfit. They made me feel more womanly.
Great point! Society mandates certain fashions to make it easier to see whether its ok to treat people as less than, whether it's women or medieval Jews or the poor.
Nicole, you need to watch the movie Kinky Boots for additional evolution of men's high heels.
Very interesting. It is much appreciated that you show your references. I think very high heels look silly, especially when watching things like the Met Gala, where wearers were barely hobbling. That said, I prefer a low heel which is recommended by my podiatrist, but 2.5" is my max because my feet are so small.
I remember learning how high heels were for created for men in French class because, in French, all shoes are feminine in nature EXCEPT high heels (un haut talon if there is just one high heel, les haut talons for a pair.) It's one of those lessons that have stuck because I can just see Louis XIV of France stopping in the middle of the Hall of Mirrors, throwing his wig hair back and exclaiming, "How dare anyone have heels taller than mine?!"
Im a historian as well as a straight man who wears high heels, and i love them. I even have my own tiktok about them.
Love your work, love this video, love your passion and wealth of knowledge. This is the 1st video I’ve seen of yours and I think it’s so incredibly well crafted that I have subscribed to see more, this type of content is fascinating and feels very necessary! Thank-you for formulating and creating videos around your interests and passions!
Stuff like this just reinforces for me how arbitrary gender norms are based on the prevailing culture of the time. As a nonbinary individual, I worry too much if I’m going to come off as a “woman” if I wear one thing over another. Very interesting video!
Thank you very much for this deep dive, Nicole! Very engaging and educational at the same time.
Love many styles of heels, but my feet are all kinds of wonky because bilateral clubfoot and genetics gave me feet that are too short compared to my height, wider at the ball and narrow at the heel, and no ankle flexibility. It took me until I was in my mid twenties to find a pair of ballet flats that didn't make my ankles bleed. I'm still looking for unicorn heels that don't make me walk like a barbie for a period lasting more than 4 hours.
I don't have the same sort of issues you have, but as someone with feet wider at the balls, with narrow heels and very high arches, flats are the absolute worst. "Flat" shoes when they actually fit are not actually flats, and I've had this idea in my head for all my life that there's been something wrong with *me* because I can't wear ballet flats, but the truth is, no, those shoes are just for people with extremely flat feet, or who don't really walk much at all, *or* they're not as minimal as media likes to make them appear, because I've seen people step out of ballet flats that have as much structure as running shoes.
Watching a video about shoes when you're hard of hearing:
Play the video
Rewind a bunch
Turn off captions
Watch, looking at the shoes
Turn captions back on again
Repeat... 🤣🤣
Normally this is a frustration because people don't account for needing to have captions so they just position things thoughtlessly, but in this case, unless the pictures are presented upside down or people start wearing shoes on their heads, not much we can do about it...
Great video though, i had no idea how much there was to know about high heeled shoes. Thanks 👍
I think it could be remedied by just having a "subtitles will be here" placement thing for video creators.
Thank you for this amazing history review of the high heel shoe 🎉
I really struggle with this as somebody who is nonbinary and agender. There's a lot of really cool heeled shoes out there but because they are so heavily coded as "women's shoes" these days I end up feeling uncomfortable wearing them and don't like how it increases the chance of me being misgendered (accidentally or purposely). Thankfully my style leans more toward punk and goth and there are quite a few higher heeled styles in that category which lean more gender neutral (and it's not uncommon to see men wearing higher heels in those subcultures too). But the only way I can cope with it when I'm dancing (Argentine tango, where heels are very helpful for the follower) is to think of it as donning a costume specific to a role rather than just being a person wearing high heels. which is odd.
I wish we hadn't gendered clothing items so much in our society.
I am a cisgender female, and I COMPLETELY agree. Gendering products, activities, and articles of clothing is one of the stupidest things humans do. It needlessly divides us.
Exquisite education and production quality as always. Thanks bunches for this enthralling, insightful, video peppered with humor of the time period as well as yours. Your voice is so sweet, soothing, and charming that it almost turns the audio into an ASMR relaxing experience. Fangirl here.
It's weirdly satisfying to know Elizabeth I and I have similar tastes in riding boots, nice to also learn from you the etiology of high heels so aligned with riding in general too. Thank you for the history lesson!
That 17th century fop in one illustration is drowning in pastel ribbons and ruffles, and they're worried about the height of his shoes???😂
I'd love to wear heels, but I never figured out how to walk in them ever… So I can't. Not even low ones.
Put most of your weight on the balls of your feet, i.e., walk on tiptoe. It's definitely not for everyone. That's my trick to learn a "high-heel" gait if you have to wear such shoes.
I took a class on how to walk in heels for burlesque performance. The advice that helped me the most was with each step imagine you are putting the middle of your foot down. I found it helped me walk more naturally.
Find a shoe that puts the actual heel under your heel. That way you're back, hips, knees and ankles align like they're supposed to. Shoes modeled on Edwardian/Belle Epoch era shoes are like that and I love them! I have bunions and a neuroma and I can walk in them without a problem. Also, a heel doesn't have to be 4 inches. I stick with 2 3/8 to 2 5/8 high and they're still "high". Also, I think Nicole has a video about how to adjust shoes to fit you (but it might be on her former employers channel). Please don't take this as me trying to force you to wear heels, I'm just saying there are alternatives to the nightmare of modern heels.
I used to be terrible in heels because I was very clumsy in general. Just walking in regular shoes was hard enough.
Doing yoga for a few years helped me improve my balance and body awareness in general, and now I can do heels decently as well.
@@momolove47 All of these comments! A difference in heel height and heel type makes a change in how your body balances. Being aware of how your body works (yoga) would definitely assist with any movement.
Okay so.. Let me make one thing clear. I am an avid watcher od Nicole's content and definitely a huge fan.And, to also make this clear: I did really enjoy watching this video. As I always do. Now... I got hit with a pet peeve however, right around the 1 minute mark. The thing about the mud is: It is wrong. Sorry to say it like that. Noone (or at least very very very few people) ever was like "let's wear plateau boots to get out of the mud". I have no idea what the englisch word for it is, but the medieval "trippen" (german word), a kind of wood "sole" thing you can strap under your boot, are meant to make you appear larger, to an extend help you to not get as cold of feet, and to help you not kill your soles instantly. So, yeah, they where not meant to keep you out of the mud (that was, in large parts, not even there). The only thing you could say about dirt is that outside is dusty and you can stop too much dust to enter the house. Dust. Not mud. Same with Chopines. They where definitely there to make you appear larger and to look pretty. Or why would anyone embroider fancy silks to wade through mud with it? Not there to get you out of water for sure. And by the way the same is the case for the "Geta" from Japan. Which are made to, not kidding, sound fancy. There even is an actual japanese word to describe "the clacking sound that Geta make" -
Those shoes did ofcourse have function. But the mud thing...seriously... I hear a ton of historians and archeologists scream out in terror and be silenced forever. Yes I am aware there are sources (archeologists writing about it, museums telling the story) about the medieval muddy street and the plateau boots to get through it. None of the shown shoes are able to get you through mud, actually, they are simply not designed in a way to help you get through it. in fact you would most likely just fall face down in the mud. The picture of the muddy medieval street is plain wrong and in professional circles really a laughing matter by now. Yes there are (sadly) still historians who believe this tale, as it is by now told so often it is almost engraved in our collective memory. One might say we all have mandela effect regarding muddy medieval streets. - It is ofcourse possible there is some kind of plateau boot somewhere in the world that actually have the primary function to raise you out of dirt. Not, however, anywhere in the western world and not with the shown examples
Considering the people who do state this theory I think most of us here would require some references and resources to actually believe this information. None of the information you have presented actually explain why or how, which makes it seem as just another theory, posed by someone without proof. You write like you've spoken to people in eras long before you could possibly have lived, rather than in a way that makes it seem like you're an actual autority on the subject, which makes it all the more likely what you're saying will be discarded.
I'm so fascinated that you put the emphasis on the second syllable - high HEELS rather than HIGH heels.
Great video! So interesting. Love the images you find as well. Thanks so much for all your work!
Black high hills and flesh colored nylon stockings were part of my Class "A" uniform when I was in the Women's Army Corps. I could not run and climb very fast (and safely) in high hills. My former husband took up wearing Cowboy boots everywhere he went (because the hills on the boots made him taller). The problems I have with my feet, legs, and lower back were caused by wearing high hills when I was young.
Your videos are wonderful! So informative and interesting.
So many societal changes since the age of enlightenment give me pause, apparently I can add high heels + their evolution 2 my list.
History is a flat circle, it seems 🙃
I remember, with a slight bit of embarrassment, having a pair of high heel shoes in 1975 or so. Chunky rubber 3” heels. The seventies were not a very fashionable decade.
Women are the emotional ones, yet it’s the men who are throwing tantrums over women’s fashion 🤔 Makes total sense to me!
Having ridden horses in both athletic shoes and in cowboy boots, I have to say having a heeled shoe makes it so much easier to use stirrups! I can absolutely see why heels were invented for riding in the first place!
This is awesome, Nicole!! I learned a lot, so thank you for this lesson!
So informative yasss🖤
I love heels. I can’t stand a flat shoe. They hurt my feet and knees.
Love these videos so interesting ❤❤
My Podiatrist doesn't mind heels. But
Stilettos different story. Not because it
makes their organs wiggle around. But
prolonged and constant use causes the
fat pads on feet to thin out. And over a
period of time it can come down to foot
bones pressure right against the skin.
Ouch causing a great deal of damage.
So once and awhile not a problem all the
time not a good idea. 😉
Thanks for the Video. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🌺
I love 1 to 2 inch heels and can actually wear 5-inch heels without much difficulty, but not for extended stretches of time. I don’t comprehend when people call my Docs which have a 1-inch heel “high heels” when that indicates at least 2 inches to most people. Especially when they just triple down on talking about how “weird” it is to see me in “high heels” about oxfords with one inch of a very chunky heel, when I also walk barefoot with my heels slightly elevated relative to my toes.
I used to have 3 inch heeled boots that were very fun and easy to walk in, because it was a thick rubber sole.
One time a man commented on my high heels ... I was wearing flip flops. This was in a very casual setting highly appropriate for such a casual shoe.I responded with 'the only thing more casual would be a slipper' and 'these are nothing compared to your wife's 5 inch stilletos'. He had no response.
As a petite 5 ft woman I'm very accustomed to men attempting the 'soft bully'.
I have the same necklace you’re wearing in this video 😮 I had assumed when I thrifted it (and after light research) that it was from the 1920s but wow. Do you know anything more about it? It’s such a cool piece
What interesting, is actually, at least in modern regular stirrups the heel actually does noting, cos your feet supposed to stay not at that plays with the heel, but on the wider place of your feet (I hope I'm being understood lol).
But looking at this early pictures you can see they actually have longer stirrups then now. So it would make more sense to have heeled boots. And the horse riding traditions do tend to lean towards boots, cos it's easier on your legs when you spend time in a saddle. Like people of steppes in middle ages and now would wear boots.
But in modern horseriding it's actually considered more safe to not to wear heels, not high at least.
Looking at your pictures I ould probably ask for definition of high when it comes to heels, since many af the examples I wouldn't consider high, but just heels, like normal elevation.
Anyway, that was a very interesting dive, thanks a lot, always loving that type of content from you, well researched and with lots of pictorial evidence!
I was aware that they began as riding shoes, but not much more than that. the very division between what was for men vs women was fascinating (I would have preferred the men's shoe and not the ladies, as well done leather is so classy).
Heels are the bane of my existence. Whenever they were forced on me on a few occasions it was pain central. Ditched the last and only pair I ever had for choir performances in HS and never looked back.
Very interesting. Thank you.
Incredible work! This was informative as well as entertaining
Just what I needed on a sick day ^^
Aw, get well soon! 🤗
Flat shoes (ballet pumps) ruined my feet - I didn't know when I wore them non stop in my twenties. I have very high arches and never wore wedges or even a gentle heel. I have bunions and plantar fasciitis... All has improved since wearing Reiker shoes with wedge heels... different kinds. Amazing video. ❤
As someone who has very high arches and struggle so much with finding low shoes that have any support at all. Even like, sports shoes. A good low heel supports the arch really well, and I look with a mix of envy and disbelief of images of 50s shoes. HOW? They follow the arch! No shoe does that!
This is the kind of content I like the most on your channel! Love a bit of fashion sociology.
thorough and informative as always.
Thank you Nicole!!! What a fascinating and informative youtube blog. I love fashion (& have always been conscious of fhe fact that both in shoes and orher clothing items - fashion has a long history of being "fluid"!!
It seems that even in the 21st century - the post-WW2 - stereo-type-genderfication of "fashion" is still with us - albeit that, interestingly, even though 90+% of women enjoy the gender stereotyping 'right' to wear pretty well ANY clothes that they may feel comfortable in for expressing their identity - and more often than not chose what in the pre-WW2 period would have been regarded as "mens" clothes (eg long pants & flat practical shoes vs skirts and ridiculously "car to bar" stillettos) - no one does (or would even dare) suggest that those 90+% of women who chose to wear trousers and flat "practical" - ergonomic shoes are "cross-dressers".
However, any "man" (save for a Scot wearing a Kilt) who would prefer to express their identity by wearing a skirt, or high heels, or "more feminine "comfortable" and "soft" fitting and looking clothes will 90+% of the time be negatively gender stereotyped as "cross-dressersl, and not really normal (or in TRUMP / MAGA world - needing to be physically and mentally removed from society - because of their "inherently evil and sinful proclivities ... as plainly demonstrated from their clothing choices!!!!"
Thank you so much, Nicole, for bringing accurate - factual - historical perspective to the important world of "fashion" and, in particular, the "fashion" of High Heeled Shoes!!!! ❤❤❤❤
I love your videos! So informativ and interesting! ❤
High heels, or shoes in general are awful for me, high heels cause sprained ankles and toe pain for me, regular shoes cause foot pain for me, so barefoot it is when I can.
The human foot isn’t made for high heels or pointy toe parts, I remember as kid seeing my mum’s friends with deformed feet at an early age due to high heels, my mum included, and later in my early 20s saw same aged women as my with deformed feet as well. I had already long decided that would not be me! I have worn high heels here and there to a party, and still do, but that is only a few times a year. And guess what? I still have the same shape feet as I had as a teen. Normal no deformed toes, no big knuckle-like-lump at the side base of my big toes (very common due to high heels)
I wore special designed shoes for deformed ankles as child and those were so bad, the leather would tear my skin open and I had bloody shoes, it would happen and happen again, ruining the shoes. It also made me not want to wear shoes at all. But as adult I solves that, fabric shoes for me that are flat ans do not have pointy toes, pretty simple, but still available in fun colours and prints. And guess what? No more deformed ankles now.
Great video! I remember the 1960’s and on fashion for both was weird. I am really enjoying being able to wear whatever feels and fits me these days!
You are awesome! So lucky to have found you! P.S. Ballet Point shoes is a great story!
One of your best vids, very interesting!
Another wonderful video essay!
Fantastic video! Thank you!
I broke my back, stepping off a tall kerb in heels. Never again.
I spent 2 years looking for a good leather Victorian bootie with a low 1 1/2 to 2 inch heel . What i found were ONLY 3 inch unless you bought custom made so.... I have 2 pair of close to 600$ of cute shoes that i have only tried on ! Still looking for an affordable low kitten heel. Im so sad i HATE high heels when i wanted an everyday cute shoe !
American Duchess! Very nice quality, and repairable!
I won't wear them. They hurt my feet so quit wearing them in my 20s.
Same, I married a short guy, so I have an extra excuse.😂
@@WVgrl59I know plenty who wont date a guy if he is shorter then them with heels on. But I do know a few that really love to use it as an excuse not to wear them even though I don't care about heels. It's not like heels make a woman physically stronger and agile either, they are more vulnerable wearing them and uncomfortable looking. So I dunno why girls even find it awkward being around a guy shorter in heels, like you're not suddenly more manlier and stronger then him just cause you're in heels.
@@jamiemohan2049the cultural conditioning that the man should be taller and stronger and "manly", aka John Wayne-like. My daughter has always been tall, and could never figure out why short guys always liked her. She did finally find a guy taller than her, but she never liked wearing heels because of her height.
I've never worn anything higher than a kitten heel, and gave up all heels decades ago. As a result, I don't have any of the foot problems my Mom had in the 1950s.
To be honest, I find Mens shoes with a 1 inch heel to be more comfortable. It definitely helps with my knees and back.
I just adore the history of material culture! Thank you again for another brilliant video
You’re ahhhmazing, a fantastic POV & delivery, keep on bb grazie 🙏🙏🙏🫶🫶🫶🙌🙌🙌
Brilliant! I've done historical research and know how hard it is to find info on artsy details. We have a ton of info on wars and killing each other. How we dressed is another issue. I know this took hours and probably years to put together. I wonder about one thing. I always read about shoes being buttoned, and that one had to use a button hook. I assume from this that button shoes weren't that big a deal. What amazed me most is how much they look like contemporary footwear. Thanks so much.
Fantastic video once again!
Heeeeey, so BH is highly ungood.
+
Came to the comments to see if anyone was talking about that. If I see another vid with sponsered ads from them, I will be unsubscribing, like I already have from Abby. Very disappointed.
I actually have two kinds of favourite Shoe types: (gothy) Boots and extreme High heels. I lastly treatened myself with a pair of Pleaser High heel plateau boots for Poledancing and i love them. Unfortunatly they came in the wrong size but i still want them.
Great video. Thank you. I love that shoes are the cause of emotional distress and bad health, meanwhile corsets were ACTUALLY a problem for woman’s health. No doubt they wouldn’t want woman’s silhouette to change!