Jessica Simpson Boots - Heels in the 20th Century

The high heel shoe has a rich history that spans hundreds of years, and surprisingly some of the most tumultuous happened in the last few decades--not counting Marie Antoinette wearing heels to her execution after Napoleon had made them illegal. It was a modest heel, though, about two inches--nothing compared to a standard Jessica Simpson Boot you'd find on the market today.

In the first part of the twentieth century, the preference among women was for keeping the heel and the toe close to the ground--flat-soled shoes we call them. All that changed when the Roaring Twenties came roaring in.

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For one thing, dresses got shorter, exposing the feet and ankles, and of all the choices history had offered up prior to the twenties, women gravitated toward the high heels of King Louis XIV--the high, shapely heel with elaborate stitching or decor.

The onset of the Great Depression in the 30s toned everything down, including the high heel. The tall heels of the 20s got smaller and more compact and wider. Hollywood's influence was coming on the scene and went for glamour and glitter. It appeared the French influence was on its way out and America was coming into its own by redefining the high heel independent of the French influence. 

World War II hit in the 1940s and that certainly took fashion down yet another notch. Luxury items were hard to come by and high heels were no exception.  Not surprisingly, after the resolution of the world war, it was a French designer, Christian Dior, who stepped up and designed a new look for the heel. They took the shoe of Louis XIV and gave it a low cut vamp and a stiletto heel. This is when the sexual symbolism of the high heel really caught fire.

While it was Dior's shoe that made the stiletto famous, in the 60s designers started incorporating them onto boots to compliment the new and popular fashion of mini-skirts. Nancy Sinatra summarized the essence of the new trend with a hit tune, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin’," that had a hook which stated, "One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you."  And there you have that…but not for long.

It was the movement known as Women's Liberation, or Feminism that put the heel back out of favor. High heels came to represent all that the new women’s movement found reprehensible, namely the position of women as being secondary to men and existing for their pleasure and entertainment. The objections of the Feminists, as they were known, included heels being like handcuffs for the feet that kept women in constant danger from any predatory males.

The heels that survived the aggressive women's movement were thick and low to the ground and the heels were square instead of pointed. Also contributing to the radical shift in shoe styles was the hippy movement which went all natural, with simple clothing and minimal adornments. The high heel was not part of this look.

These influences began to wane in the 1980s as a new generation took hold. Women returned to the heel, maintaining that they were wearing them because they wanted to, not because it was a fashion being dictated to them.

Here's a Video you can check out of the Jessica Simpson Angie Boot

Here it is again in Saddle.