High heel

“ Some day, when we are really civilized, high heels will be unknown. I am convinced that the Omnipotent Creator knew his business thoroughly when he created the human foot, that the sole of the human foot, heel included, was made for locomotion, and that it is impossible for human ingenuity to improve upon the foot. In other words, if you can secure footwear that will enable you to walk with the same freedom that you can enjoy when barefooted, you will then have attained perfection in foot covering. ”

“ High heels throw the foot into the front of the shoe, cramp the toes, and destroy the natural action of the foot. The French heel, so coveted by many ladies, is an abomination. It is not only too high, but, being placed under the arch of the foot, defeats Nature’s purpose in the construction of the arch. Children under twelve years should not wear heels. ”

“ The heel, on the bottom, is quite convex, which allows the heel of the foot to settle down into that of the boot more than usual, and thus what appears to be a high heel, outside, feels, on the foot, to be no higher than one made upon ordinary lasts an eighth of an inch lower. There is hence so much less pressure upon the ends of the toes. ”

“ Silkworms apart, it was quite imperative. The strain on my ankles! You, perhaps, do not know what it is to walk with a high heel on one shoe and none at all on the other. It gives one a curious gait, which is remarked and quite misunderstood by boys in the street, and it is painful as well. Uncertain though I was of the way Clara would take it, I felt I must borrow a pair of shoes from her. ”

“ Those who are incapable of getting into a shoe compared with which Cinderella's glass slipper would appear gigantic, have recourse to the stratagem of wearing a similar model fitted with a high heel set in the middle of the sole. ”

“ At first sight one is apt to think a high-heeled shoe a rather complicated shape, but if you try to analyse it as a rough block, it is no more or less than a wedge. the high heel gives the greatest depth, the toe gives the narrowing point, the tread of the foot—heel and sole of the shoe—a flat line. ”

“ Thus it is when a high heel raises one abutment of the arch of the foot.2 [2] The strength of the natural support is lost, the centre of gravity is changed, and the whole method of walking has to be altered in order to maintain the equilibrium. Hence people who wear very high heels take small, mincing steps, are apt to totter and stumble in their walk, and are on the whole most ungraceful in their movements. This is one of the chief reasons why we see so few people who really walk well, for the boots of the A B Plate 6.—The bones of the foot at rest. ”

“ Besides this, it is known that high heels prevent the full growth of the calf of the leg, by preventing the full exercise of those muscles which raise the heel at every step. As it is kept constantly raised already by an inch and a half of leather under it, of course there is less required of the muscles, and they are decreased in size. ”

“ Imagine drinking champagne out of a low-heeled mannish-looking shoe—not that anybody does that nowadays except in books, but you get the idea. Besides, high heels make your feet look littler and your ankles slimmer. ”

“ In fact soldiers wearing properly fitted heel shoes can march as far and fast as can be expected. Excessively high heels throw the weight too much on the ball of the foot, thus doing away with the benefits that come from the arching of the instep. ”

“ They are generally, by narrow shoes, squeezed all of a heap, and often laid over one another in such a manner as to be rendered altogether incapable of motion. Nor is the high heel less hurtful than the narrow toe. A lady may seem taller for walking on her tiptoes, but she will never walk well in this manner. ”

“ Still, a moderately high one is not so obnoxious as to be worth disputing about. If the height were limited to an inch for the heels of a lady’s boot, and an inch and a quarter for those of gentlemen, as a general rule, in both cases, the disadvantage of such heels would be so trifling that they could hardly be objectionable, provided the length was sufficient. But a short heel, however low it may be, is a villainous thing. ”

“ The weight of the body is by this means thrown in a disproportionate ratio on the toes, the joints of which are consequently overstrained. Moreover, with a high heel the sole is so oblique in its direction that the foot must be constantly gliding forwards and forcibly pressing the toes into the point of the shoe. ”

“ Distorted position caused by high heel. majority will not allow them to do so. For my own part I think that grace of bearing, comfort, and health are preferable to fashion in boots; but I must warn those who very rightly make up their minds to take this view of the question, and make the change from irrational to rational foot-gear, that they must not be discouraged if they feel some discomfort at first in consequence of the change. ”

“ Case! these are only Cuban heels,” cried poor Jess.
“That makes no difference. Some girls might be able to wear that heel with comfort. Not you, Miss Morse. Your instep is not high enough. You are cramping your foot. First thing you know your arches will begin to fall. Then you will know what suffering is, young lady. It is bad shoeing that makes so many people suffer from ‘flatfoot.’ Haven’t you a pair of comfortable shoes in your locker?” ”

“ A French or spindle heel is absolutely inconsistent for any occasion when walking or standing is to be done and is certainly not artistic when worn with a tailored dress or suit. Vanity, gratified by a foot that seemingly is a bit smaller, should not compensate for the loss of good health, good sense, natural grace and efficiency. An elaborate evening dress may call for a higher heel than the one worn on the street, but it will not excuse the wabbly spindle heels sold girls by many ruthless concerns. ”

“ Nine out of every ten older women look better in a comfortable straight heeled shoe or slipper, than they do in high French heels. Very high heels are apt to throw the body forward and out of its natural graceful poise. Naturally, an older woman tires easier and slumps into this unbecoming posture sooner than a young girl. If you want to dress for an enduring smartness that will last a whole afternoon or a whole day, wear comfortable clothes. ”

“ They always wore red heels, at least all persons who pretended to gentility. The fronts of the gentlemen’s shoes were very high, and on gala-days or showy occasions, a buff shoe was worn. The ladies appear to have preferred silk or velvet to leather: thus fig. 10 is entirely made of a figured blue silk, and it has bright red heels and silver buckles. Fig. 11 is of brown leather, with a red heel, and a red rose for a tie above the instep. Fig. 12 is altogether red, in a pattern of different strengths of tint; the tie and heels being deepest in color. ”

“ Give thanks then to the days we live in and the long gowns we wear, which be so favourable to you, and do hide your legs so conveniently. For indeed with your great high-heeled shoes a foot tall, these be more like a cudgel than a woman's leg. If a man had never a weapon to fight withal, he would but have to cut off a leg and grasp it by the end where your foot is shod and encased in your high shoes, and he would have a beautiful club for the fiercest encounter. ”

“ Provided every one is in the fashion, everything goes on in the age of high heels and gowns tied back precisely as it did five-and-twenty years ago, when people wore flat shoes, and when gloves with three buttons had not been dreamed of—when a woman of most moderate dimensions occupied three or four square yards of space upon a ball-room floor, and men wore peg-top trousers. ”

“ Close fitting, high-heeled boots of fine quality incased his feet, in whose shapeliness he felt a pardonable pride; for a young man’s excellence was often measured in the circle which he had frequented, by the possession of such a foot. ”

“ There should be plenty of room in the shoe for the toes to do this, and it is largely because the toes are so tightly confined in pointed shoes and can not spread out that Americans are such poor walkers. The ridiculous high heels are unsightly and injurious and make walking difficult, yet they do not deform the foot, the most beautiful and exquisitely designed of all our organs except our hands, to the same extent as do the short and pointed shoes so commonly worn. ”

“ O. S.—Yes; but after you have walked in the slippers, you will find the high heels will throw the foot forward.
Miss P. (still prancing her foot in and out before the mirror.) —I don't quite like that square look there. ”

“ I have always had a very great interest in the shoes of women, particularly in slippers with high heels, which is always connected with the thought of being trod upon, or of submissively kissing the foot. ”

“ The cause first operating to produce them is the wrong shape of the shoe at the inside, which gives the oblique position to the great toe. Narrowness and shortness are stronger influences acting in the same direction, aided still further by extreme height of heels, by changing, by narrow-toed stockings, etc. And it is especially worthy of being noticed that the short and narrow toes, and the high heels often adopted to improve the foot’s appearance, do thus inevitably defeat that purpose. ”

“ The high heels of shoes add to the evil effects of the pointed toes, and a copy of a drawing from an advertisement figured by Sir William Flower recalls strongly the stunted foot of a Chinese woman which the wearer of the shoe would be one of the first probably to anathematize. ”

“ It is said that “pride never feels pain;” we should think the proverb was made for those who wear high heels, for we are told, although we cannot speak from personal experience, that the pain on first wearing shoes of this kind, in which the whole weight of the body seems to thrust the toes forward into the shoe, is excruciating; nothing but fashion could reconcile one to such voluntary suffering. ”

“ High Heels.—People who are used to walking in a natural manner and who don a pair of high-heeled shoes for the first time are sure to complain of pain in the calf and knee, because the high heels require them to hold the knee more rigid and in a somewhat different position from that required when the persons stand under ordinary circumstances. ”

“ She makes two points: that high heels are a necessity for any lady who wishes to keep her dress clean from the Stygian mud of our streets, and that without a tight corset ‘the ordinary number of petticoats and etceteras’ cannot be properly or conveniently held up. Now, it is quite true that as long as the lower garments are suspended from the hips a corset is an absolute necessity; the mistake lies in not suspending all apparel from the shoulders. ”

“ If we want to see the foot unspoiled then we must go to the countries where fashion and manners have not affected it, where generation after generation has walked the earth on the bare foot, or with only the slightest protection of a sandalled sole. Then we see how finely it supports the body, what a thing of strength and beauty it can be!—firm heel, arched instep, springing muscles of the sole imprinting the ground with its firm tread! ”

“ And this mark told nothing except that whoever made it set her heel—that is, the heel of a low shoe, size six—on top of the other mark."
"Only one heel-mark?"
"Only one. The sole, and the other foot, must have rested on the hemlock needles and other loose stuff. The ground was only partly bare." ”

“ Not so are the ladies’ shoes, for they only are allowed the privilege of discomfort, fashion having in this country declared in favor of small feet, and the prejudice of the people having gone with it, the feet of all ladies of decent rank in society, are cramped in early life, by being placed in so strait a confinement, that their growth is retarded, and they are not more than three or four inches in length, from the toe to the heel. ”

“ It is usual, in all shoes of even moderate strength, to make the heel a little higher by means of what is called the heel-piece. These heel-pieces are generally of some little use, especially in dirty weather, and we cannot wholly deny their right to existence. ”

“ The chief points to be observed in getting boots or shoes are that the toes should be broad, to allow full play to the toes of the foot; the heels, if any are worn, should be low and broad, and under the natural heel, instead of being a sort of peg pushed forward right into the middle of the foot, like the fashionable Wurtemburg heels. ”

“ While I was arriving at a decision she raised the slenderest, whitest, most adorable pink-soled foot it would be possible for any woman to possess, with dainty air from the water, bringing her knee beneath her chin, and placed her heel upon the rock upon which she sat. ”

“ Then there are the miseries that come from the wear of the sole. There is the ricked ankle because the heel has gone over, and the sense of insecurity; and there is the miserable sense of not looking well from behind that many people must feel. It is almost always painful to me to walk behind girls who work out, and go to and fro, consuming much footwear, for this very reason, that their heels seem always to wear askew. ”

“ The heels need not be flat at first, if you have been accustomed to wearing high ones, for the sudden lowering of the heels may injure your arches, but as the weeks wear on you would better adopt moderately low heels. ”

“ So also it is seen that the old-fashioned short heels, so long worn, have had an influence in producing the broken-down arch of the flat-foot; while other defects in the construction of the foot’s covering manifest themselves by callosities on the heel and instep, the turning over to one side, and the pressure, squeezing, and general discomfort in the fit. ”