Take a Stroll through Shoe History

December 27, 1995 Web posted at: 6:45 p.m. EST
http://www.cnn.com/STYLE/9512/shoe_history

From Correspondent Janine Sharell

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- For some people, shoes are an obsession. For others they are merely a necessity. Either way, they have been around for centuries. Some special pairs are now on display at the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine.

The museum aims to show that shoes haven't always been as comfortable as they are now. You have not known sore feet until you imagine squeezing yours into some shoes in this collection.

Chinese women were forced to wear tiny shoes.

One woman's shoe, the ideal in China from about 1000 until early in this century, looks small enough for a baby's foot. Museum curator Barbara Williams says Chinese women had their feet bound when they were about five years old to mold the tiny feet Chinese men considered erotic.

The tradition hit the end of the road with the revolution in 1911, when women had to go to work, Williams said. (145K AIFF sound)

One shoe that dates back to the 1890s is as steep as a downhill ski slope. As with the Chinese shoe, when wearing it, a woman could not stand alone. "You had to have help to walk in them, which probably was appealing, too, because you had to have an escort and [it] felt like you were helpless," Williams said.

Women would need help walking in these high heels.

The infamous platform shoes of the disco era can trace their roots back to China, where similar shoes were created to help women get through mud and water. Marco Polo later brought them to Venice, where they became an art form.

Williams notes that it was not always women who sported heels. They were part of male fashion in the time of Henry VIII and George Washington, she said.

This platform shoe was made in Spain.

The shoe museum also exhibits celebrity footwear, including shoes from Lucille Ball, Ringo Starr and Billy Jean King, plus the shoes boxer Joe Frazier wore when he defeated Mohammed Ali.

And the museum displays shoes from U.S. first ladies. "We don't have Hillary yet, but we're working on it," Williams said.