Why does a person need shoes? It would seem that the answer is simple: a person needs legs to walk, and shoes to make walking more comfortable and comfortable. In this case, some of the customs of the East and West, and of modernity, look truly paradoxical - after all, more than once in history, types of shoes were born in which it was very difficult to walk, and sometimes simply impossible.
One of the amazing types of shoes was born in China. Today, it can only be seen in a museum or collection, and in the old days, every girl from a respectable family had to have at least sixteen pairs of these shoes. We are talking about lotus shoes.
In ancient times, at least 10 centuries ago, a strange custom was born - a bride from a noble and wealthy family had to have a very small foot - 9-15 cm. It is said that one of the emperors admired a dancer who performed a dance on tiptoe on a lotus stand, so that it seemed that her foot was very small. This became a canon of beauty and gave rise to one of the most cruel traditions - to bandage a foot tightly from the age of 5-6, so that it was eventually crippled, but it could be shod in tiny shoes. It was considered elegant, refined, sexy, aristocratic.
What were the "lotus" shoes? Made of expensive fabric, red was preferred, but others were possible. They were decorated with exquisite embroidery, most often it was a pattern of lotuses, symbolizing purity. Shoes were the pride of the hostess and were never removed in the presence of a man, even in the marital bed.
It was almost impossible to walk in such shoes without assistance, but it was precisely this helplessness and inability to keep balance, which was called "willow swaying in the wind," that was appreciated. Fortunately, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the cruel custom was banned, and shoes became the object of desire for collectors and museums.
The example of uncomfortable shoes in the West is not related to such cruel customs. Europe, transformed by the encounter with the East that occurred as a result of the Crusades, takes on new trends of thought and new aesthetic forms. This gives rise to the amazing and strange fashion of "late Gothic" for elongated shapes. Long sleeves, high hats, multi-meter trains, and, of course, pointed-nosed, so-called "beak-shaped shoes." In France, it was called "poulains" - the noses of the ship. There was a version that this shoe shape, borrowed from the East, was a "transformation&flip-flops with curved noses. But to what extremes have people in the West fallen in love with these shoes! The elongated toes of fashionable shoes soon became two or even three times the size of the foot. In order to walk in "beak-nosed" shoes, she had to come up with a special device - chains that fastened her huge noses under her knees. It's impossible to take another step!
Fashion is comical, and it has been criticized in every way, but it has lasted 150 years anyway. Ardent preachers anathematized her as a creature of the devil, and the Czech king Jiri even legally banned her wearing and manufacture. Ignoring the law and overcoming the inconveniences of wearing, the fashionistas steadfastly held on until a new fashion came - the Renaissance.
Truly, the ways of fashion are unfathomable! Whether you’re solo or in a group, https://phase10rules.com/ has everything you need to get started.