Shoes Through the Decades

As most of you know fashion is endlessly evolving, and trends are constantly re-appearing through the decades. You all have had your parents bore you to pieces saying, “When I was your age I had those same shoes,” and your thinking “Yeah right mom”. If your parents are as bold as my mother, they will go on to say, “And I wore them better too!” Our parents may think that they were the first to rock the platform shoe, however high rolling women have been wearing them since the 15^th century.  Way back in the day these gaudy English women wore shoes called, chopines, which were used to keep their feet out of the filth of the streets. They were also used as a status symbol, the higher the shoe the more money you had. These shoes rose to such ridiculous heights, some reaching over 30 inches tall, that servants were assigned just to help these women walk without tumbling over. However, there were some powerful women who practiced wearing these shoes to such far extents as to be able to move with no assistance, and were even able to dance.

Many of you probably identify the platform shoe with the 70’s disco era, which is true, but there are many more iconic platform moments within the past few decades. If you don’t remember Spice Girls brought the platforms back in the 90’s rocking around in their British coolness, which I totally tried mimicking as a little ten-year-old. Today, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj are wearing insanely high platforms while singing and dancing in them like it is no big deal. Popular brands, such as Free People, are too showing off the platform shoe as a part of that bohemian vibe. High-end designers such as Giuseppe Zanotti and Prada are showing platforms on their runway as well. Be brave and go out and buy some platforms; I promise they are more wearable, a little lower, and easier to walk in. But as shoe addicts before you go out and buy the latest trend, you may want to check in the way back of your closet to make sure you don’t already have a pair of platforms from way back when.