
High heels were not originally intended to be worn by women. In fact, the coveted red-soled Christian Louboutin shoes were famously inspired by a French royal and notable trendsetter of the high heel, King Louis XIV of France. He passed a law ensuring only members of his court could wear the red-soled heels he sported, making it easier for 17th century society people to recognise who was privileged and in favour with the King, and who was not– (doesn’t sound too far off from the Louboutin ethos, even today).

So why did men stop wearing high heels if they were once so in fashion? And why not women? The overly snobbish connotations of such an impractical style had a lot to do with it. With the Enlightenment came society’s embrace for the rational and rejection of ‘privilege over education’. Men renounced the desire to be beautifully and elaborately dressed, choosing instead to be merely practical and functional, almost to appear as if they were involved in working on their own estates. It eventually spawned the Great Male Renunciation during the 19th century, a historical phenomenon that would set the tone for menswear in the centuries ahead.
Last photo is NSFWWhile women’s high heels were briefly abandoned in the wake of the French revolution, the new shift towards more practical fashion however, did not apply to both sexes. ”Women, in contrast, were seen as emotional, sentimental and uneducatable,” explains Semmelhack, which in a nutshell, is the historical basis behind why women continued to wear the ‘foolish’ high-heeled shoes and men didn’t.