The high heel shoes attribute its existence to Catherine of Medici from Paris, who wore it owing to her short stature and became a part of the fashion shortly after. These fashionable shoes enjoy a varied history in men and women.

Initially, men and women both wore high heel shoes for centuries. The lower class walked barefoot and people wearing them were mostly popular figures such as actors. They wore indicating their social status and tried to gain importance. The men heels were primarily worn in the courts. The modern fashion comes from Italian style ranging to 15 to 42 cm. 17th century brought a change stating that women wore high heel shoes to seduce and marry men. Later, Giovanni Casanova also declared his admiration for shoes that showed the beautiful legs of women.

The year 1791 brought a significant revolution when Napoleon banished high heel shoes attempting to illustrate equality. Regardless of Napoleonic code, Marie Antoinette in 1793 appeared wearing shoes of two inches to the scaffold. Once again in 1860s heels gained utmost popularity and the contraption of sewing machine bestowed with great varieties in high heel shoes. In fact, Victorians felt wearing them gave a symbolic curve to every woman. The late 19th century brought widespread popularity, but in 1930s the western shoe with heels received favorable response. In early 1960s, miniskirt came into full form and the stilettos emerged into fashion enhancing the look of legs. Stiletto heels are long and thin varying in lengths from 1 to 2 inch, and are especially for women.

Even the tennis shoes came high heeled. The heelless high heel shoes allowed women to wear all types of shoes. Though, it seemed to be the height of eccentricity, the gesture of having an assortment of fashion choices could not be ignored. Women love wearing shoes matching their outfit and appreciate wrapping their delicate and elegant feet. Especially, the high heel shoes certainly bring compliments as they look empowered and highly confident.

High heel shoes indicate fashionable footwear that raises the feet of the wearer significantly. The footwear creates an aesthetic feeling as a person appears slender and tall. Today, they are obtainable in diverse styles and shapes such as pumps, tapered, stilettos, blocks, blade and wedge. Fashion icons regard heels above 8.5cm as high and consider anything below it as medium or low heel. It is noted that women only wear them, but the Cuban heels and cowboy boots are worn by men as well. Initially, raised heels lead to slipping forward while riding, but over decades it became stylized.

France later created high heel shoes ideal for men and women. This trend declined during the French revolution, but resurfaced in 1800s. The shoes went through several changes such as the late 70s preferred low heels, while the late 80s and early 90s were happy with high heels. In this period, the heels shape changed from 70s with block to 90s with tapered and 80s and post 2000 with stilettos. Recently, the shoes heights vary from 4cm (kitten heel) to 10 cm (spike or stilettos). The extreme high heel shoes are available in 13 cm and have aesthetic reasons to be worn. However, they cannot be worn practically everyday.

High heel shoes are popular among women as it adds height to the wearer and give an aesthetic appeal. It is also believed to alter the angle of the foot and also enhances the calves shape.

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