Breaking The Glass Ceiling With Glass Slippers
Cinderella, Dorothy, and Carrie Bradshaw have represented the importance, power, and magic of high-heeled shoes. In a day and age when we are required to constantly re-adapt to changes, it’s important to evaluate what high heel shoes symbolize in our society.
To wear or not to wear? To have blisters or not to have blisters? These are the real questions that need to be asked.
Recently I was at a shoe exhibition, which made me take a very short trip down memory lane to the one and only time I wore heels, my prom. Granted, I changed to sneakers after half an hour, but I still endured the pain while stepping on my date.
Watching my Mom wear high heels every day got me thinking about why high-heeled shoes are so important in our modern culture in the first place?
In order to answer that we need to go back in time. Like really back, to when Iran used to be Persia.
Persian soldiers were first to the party. In the 10th century they wore heeled shoes because it helped their feet stay in their stirrups and enhanced shooting stability. In the 17th century high heeled shoes were a staple for Persian riders and because horses are a symbol of wealth, heeled shoes began to signify money and power.
A Persian military delegation was sent to Europe at the end of the 17th century to meet with the leaders of Russia, Germany, and Spain. During the 17th century, male fashion in Europe focused on emphasizing the legs and high-heeled shoes helped emphasize calves and thighs. Aristocrats were infatuated with the mysterious shoes the Persian military delegation wore, leading to them adopting the heels. In 1670, French King Louis XIV passed an edict stating that only nobility could wear heels, inspiring men around him to dress to his standards.
King Louis XIV was obsessed with the red heel as it was a symbol of power. Sound familiar, shoe lovers?
The wearers of red heels were rich enough not to dirty their shoes and maintain the color, yet powerful to crush enemies underfoot. King Louis XIV's mild obsession inspired, you guessed it, Christian Louboutin.
Upper-class European women who wore high heels became towering figures — oh no! The higher the footwear, the more cloth was required for the dress to cover it, making it a status symbol.
In the 18th century, women’s shoes became narrower and higher, as opposed to men’s shoes which became broader and sturdier. Consequently, men stopped wearing heels around 1730 as a reaction against their perceived feminism. The French Revolution was the end for heels. People opted for flats, not wanting any association with royalty.
Elizabeth Semmelhack, the author of Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe, thinks that the heel was brought back into fashion when photography was gaining prominence during the mid-19th century. Photographers found that heels made women look sexier, better defining their legs and bums, thereby leading to more daring, risqué photos. In the 1920s the scandalous flapper era and style of dress became popular and the style was adopted into a milder version for the social elite. Dress lengths were shorter and shoes were visible making the choice of shoes important again.
The real question is, do high heels really make women more desirable?
Yes, according to the research “Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness”. When women wear high heels, their lumbar curvature increases and they were perceived as more attractive.
Cinderella serves as evidence of the way heels express wealth in our culture. Nonetheless, shoes also convey a message about the wearer. For example: in the cooperate world, heels are considered a necessity for professionalism. In 2019, a campaign rose in Japan against the expectations that women wear high heels at work.
The movement gained popularity on social media in hopes to change the fact that there are no laws in Japan that restrict companies from regulating employees’ wear. The activists were inspired by the Philippines and the Canadian province of British Columbia, which passed laws in 2017 that banned employers from forcing women to wear heels at work. That’s why Kamala Harris’s choice of wearing Converse in 2020 was pivotal. It seemed to be a national stepping stone in breaking the stereotypical corporate dress norms while permitting easier mobility.
Women’s mobility has been systematically restricted throughout history. High-heeled shoes are restrictive, authoritarian, feminine, and professional. In the U.S., we live in a time where abortion rights are questioned and employers can institute dress codes provided they are not overly burdensome on one gender group. High heels are more symbolic than we think; they symbolize how far we have come in society in regard to women’s mobility and rights.
