Fuck⚜Yeah ⚜Monsieur!⚜

delphes:

alliartist:

rifa:

prokopetz:

nebcondist1:

prokopetz:

I’ve seen this image going around, and I feel compelled to point out that it’s only half-right. It’s true that high heels were originally a masculine fashion, but they weren’t originally worn by butchers - nor for any other utilitarian purpose, for that matter.

High heels were worn by men for exactly the same reason they’re worn by women today: to display one’s legs to best effect. Until quite recently, shapely, well-toned calves and thighs were regarded as an absolute prerequisite for male attractiveness. That’s why you see so many paintings of famous men framed to show off their legs - like this one of George Washington displaying his fantastic calves:

… or this one of Louis XIV of France rocking a fabulous pair of red platform heels (check out those thighs!):

… or even this one of Charles I of England showing off his high-heeled riding boots - note, again, the visual emphasis on his well-formed calves:

In summary: were high heels originally worn by men? Yes. Were they worn to keep blood off their feet? No at all - they were worn for the same reason they’re worn today: to look fabulous.

so then how did they become a solo feminine item of attire?

A variety of reasons. In France, for example, high heels fell out out of favour in the court of Napoleon due to their association with aristocratic decadence, while in England, the more conservative fashions of the Victorian era regarded it as indecent for a man to openly display his calves.

But then, fashions come and go. The real question is why heels never came back into fashion for men - and that can be laid squarely at the feet of institutionalised homophobia. Essentially, heels for men were never revived because, by the early 20th Century, sexually provocative attire for men had come to be associated with homosexuality; the resulting moral panic ushered in an era of drab, blocky, fully concealing menswear in which a well-turned calf simply had no place - a setback from which men’s fashion has yet to fully recover.

FASHION HISTORY IS HUMAN HISTORY OK

Thank you, history side of tumblr. That “stay out of blood” thing has been driving me mad.

Huhuhu high heels history hey ? Well there-s some kind of a legend in France that Louis XIV’s brother, Philippe d’Orléans, was the “first” to wear rea heels. Monsieur, as he was called, was a very notorious homosexual, but more than that, he loved party over everything. So he oftenly used to go partying in Paris with his friends and lovers, go to one party to an other. One night he went by foot through Châtelet, which was at the time the slaughterhouses block, staining his shoes in blood spilled in the streets. Exhausted, and most certainly quite drunk, he went back home in the morning. As he was going to, bed a valet came to him saying that his brother the king asked for him immediately. Without changing, he went to his brother’s room in front of all the Court, talked with his brother and finally go back to his bed and slept. In the evening, he changed himself and went to the usual “Soirée en Appartement”. Monsieur was quite surprised to see that every courtier and his brother were wearing red heel. When he asked, the courtier watched him quite surprised as well : “But my lord, you were wearing them this very morning… The king liked it so much that everyone copied you.” So here are your red heels, because a young man was to drunk and lazy to see that he had blood everywhere on his heels.