For generations they have signified femininity and glamour - but a pair of high heels was once an essential accessory for men.
You can only work it for so long.
As I understand it, high heels started out as shoes for riding horses. Considering hardly anyone rides horses anymore, and how uncomfortable walking in high heels is, I kinda have the opposite question: Why do people still wear them?
Impracticality and fashion are often interlinked. The affluent traditionally have less of a need for function over form, so styles trend towards the extreme end of inconvenience to convey opulence. Emulating the wealthy is seen as a way to project wealth and status. As styles trickle down, the less sensible elements become associated with elegance.
Condensed, high heels are a way to signal affluence whether or not it exists.
Why? I don’t know, but probably it’s the same reason most of us stopped wearing the long pointy shoes.
My best guess is that it’s directly related to the Industrial Revolution somehow. Mass manufacturing methods and a need for practicality in working men’s footwear probably had the largest impact.
why would anyone, ever
