SHOES THROUGH THE CENTURIES...

Shoes are by no means a 20th Century invention, in fact Japanese geisha'ss wore 'wooden geta', which were thonged sandals mounted on two blocks of wood, which gave them height and made them walk with what they called a provocativee gait'.

In the 15th - 17th centuries shoes were given extra height by a platform sole called a chopine.

During the time of Louis X1V and Marie Antoinette, in the 17th Century, Paris, the heel really became a fashion trend but by 1789, Josephine Bonaparte wore flat shoes and then the most fashionable women wore them as well.

By the mid 19th Century, heels were back in vogue again and in the 20th Century, heels fluctuated as often as the skirt lengths.

In the 1940's, they were high and wedge-shaped and in the 1950's high and pointy (my mums favourite). In 1960 there were low kitten heels as well as high stilettos. The 1970's saw a revival of the 1940's wedge, and the rise of the platform. The 1980's was linked to the stiletto and in fact the working girls of the 1980's wore high heels to the boardroom as well as the bedroom.

The stiletto heel came into vogue in the 1950's when a pair of stiletto court shoes was as essential a part of a woman's wardrobe as her gloves, hat and handbag, and preferably all matching.

The word stiletto means sharp dagger.

Roger Vivier is the fashion designer credited for making the stiletto heel so fashionable due to his designs for Christian Dior.

Many osteopaths agree that the shape of your spine have been irrevocably altered into high heel mode.