Step In Time: Shoes And Us
Look in just about any woman’s closet in America, and there will probably be a large assortment of footwear waiting to be worn. There are shoes for fancy occasions, shoes for everyday, shoes for sports, shoes for the beach, shoes for ballet dancing, and shoes for wearing just in the house! The list goes on and on, of course, and shoes have even been infamous at times: the leader of a country was famous for having literally hundreds of pairs at her disposal.
Despite our love affair with the beauty of shoe styles, it must be remembered that their primary use is, of course, functional.
The materials that shoes are made from do not typically last for thousands upon thousands of years, so it’s hard to pinpoint when man began wearing them to protect his feet. Some physical characteristics of bone structure in early man’s toes suggest that they may have been in use somewhere between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago. Of course, fashion was not an issue then, and designs were pretty basic: leather bags means to protect feet from the elements and sharp or hard objects on the ground.
Those living in warmer climates did not need all of that protective leather and they fashioned the earliest type of sandals, which suited their lifestyle and were not as labor-intensive to create.
After the Middle Ages, Europe began to thrive and prosper; shoe styles changed in relation to the increasing standard of living. The fanciest, most intricate designs in footwear became symbols of wealth and privilege. The longer and pointier the toes of their shoes, the more important the person must be. In fact, comfort was completely compromised for status, and some of the proportions of these designs were, frankly, ridiculous.
In the last third of the second millennium, sewn-on soles became the norm for standard leather shoes. Nowadays, shoes can be made with practically any material, be it plastic, cloth, rubber, and a variety of synthetic materials. Industrial strength adhesives have completely changed the way soles are added to shoes. It is more likely that soles will be adhered rather than sewn now.
But the material for fine, handcrafted shoes has remained the same for thousands of years: leather is still the gold standard in the creation of the best, most durable footwear for women and men alike.
Our love affair with shoes has spawned a whole sub-industry of accessories to go with them: shoehorns, trees, polishing equipment, overshoes, inserts, shoe bags, stretchers, snow shoes, and (of course) shoelaces!
No matter how many pairs of shoes we own, we can be grateful for their function in protecting our feet wherever we go.
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