Platform Shoes in the 1900'S

1 Hicks Platform Shoes in the 1900’s Research Article Paper Camry Hicks Art 3410 March 14, 2018 Professor Lung 2 Hicks Shoes are very important to our everyday lives because they protect our feet. Not only do they protect our feet but they add style to our individual creative fashion looks in our daily fashion looks. Christian Louboutin says, “Shoes transform your body language and attitude. They fit you physically and emotionally.” You can never go wrong with any kind of shoe you wear because they are designed not only to comfort you but to give you style in you life. In the the 1990’s there were many different shoes that were worn and one shoe in particular that I will be focusing on throughout my paper is the Platform shoes. My research journal article will consist of the history of platform shoes in the 1900’s such as who wore this kind of shoe back then and what styles and materials were used during that time period. I have researched the history of the shoe so far as how and when the platform shoes came about during the 1900’s. I have learned that these particular shoes were invented many, many years ago but they didn’t start coming out with different styles, materials and things like that until the 1900’s. The platform shoe has evolved so much from when it was invented until this current day. But I won’t be focusing on these shoes long ago or currently throughout this paper, I will be specifically focusing on the platform shoes in the time period of the 1900’s when fashion was at its finest. I wanted to research this topic because these specific shoes are seen today more than ever and these platform shoes are seen in so many different styles and versions like actual shoes, heels, and sandals. A lot of models are also seen wearing different looks of a platform heel, specifically when they are walking down a runway or just simply modeling off the shoes through pictures. The specific looks of the platform shoes that they and many other people were wearing, including men, range from a dramatic type of platform shoe to a more simple type of platform shoe, rather if it was a sneaker, heel, boot, or sandal. So far as the regular platform tennis shoes, 3 Hicks heels, and sandals, these are seen in many different looks today also as they were back in the 1900’s. Platform shoes enjoyed some popularity in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom from the 1930s to the 1950s but not nearly as close to how popular they were in the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1930s a designer named Moshe Kimel designed the first modern version of the platform shoes for the actress Marlene Dietrich. The shoe that Moshe Kimel designed for Marlene was called the Rainbow Platform. But then the Rainbow Platform became popular in Beverly Hills and was redesigned by the famous shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo. In a article called, “History of Women's Shoes”, it stated that, “Salvatore Ferragamo is the father of the modern platform- despite material shortages in Italy under Musolini’s regime, the designer accepted the challenge and began exploring alternatives. Cork, he realized was readily available, durable, and lightweight. Ferragamo was able to stack layers of cork beneath a shoe’s sole to give it a significant amount of height without weighing it down. This resulted in what we now call the “wedge.” Carmen Miranda was a fan, and had a hand in popularizing the style.” The Rainbow shoe was created and designed for Judy Garland who was a American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. This shoe was a tribute to Judy Garland's signature song “Over The Rainbow” which was a song performed in Wizard of Oz in 1938. So if you were to see that movie you would find the great “Rainbow Platform Shoes” in that particular movie, colorful and tall. The shoe was created using very unique shaped slabs of cork that were covered in suede to build up the wedge and gold kidskin was used for the straps. Salvatore Ferragamo creation of the platform shoe came from the experimentations with new materials because of wartime rationing during World War 2. But traditionally heels were built up with leather but because of the rationing of 4 Hicks leather, Salvatore Ferragamo experimented with wood and cork. So far as the colors and design of the Rainbow Platform shoe resembles the modern shoe standards today. As time went on in the 1940s the platform shoes were designed with a high arch. In a article that I read it said, “The platform brings a heavy looking foundation to the wearer that is in direct polarity to the stiletto heel. With its reconfiguration of the arch and structure of attenuated insubstantiality, the high heel suggests the ant gravitational effect of the dancer en pointe. On the contrary, the platform displays weightiness more like the flat steps of modern dance.” Later on in the late 1960s and 1970s the increase of interest in platform shoes as fashion began around 1967 and continued all the way up until 1979 in Britain and Europe. This fashion of the platform shoes lasted further in the United States until the 1980’s. At the beginning of this time when platform shoes were popular, they were worn mostly by young women in their teenage years and also their twenties. And then ever now and then they were worn by older women and young men. Although platform shoes had added height without uncomfortable sharp heels these shoes were mostly worn for attracting attention. A wide range of styles were very popular during this time like boots, sneakers, sandals, oxfords, and espadrilles, the soles were made of wood, cork, or synthetic materials. The most popular style of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was the simple quarter strap sandal with a tan water buffalo hide strap on a beige suede wrapped cork wedge heel platform sole according to historical information I found on platforms and materials. These platforms were originally brought out under the brand name called Kork-Ease. In the 1980’s as the fashion of platform shoes proceeded they carried onto manufactures. In an article called, Platform Shoes in the 1900’s, it stated that, “manufacturers like Candie's stretched the envelope of what was considered too outrageous to wear, while others, like Famolare and Cherokee of California, 5 Hicks introduced "comfort" platforms, designed to combine the added height of platforms with the support and comfort of sneakers, or even orthopedic shoes, and by the time the fad finally fizzled in the late 1980s, girls and women of all ages were wearing them. It may also be a by-product of this fad that Scandinavian clogs, which were considered rather outrageous in the late 1960s and early 1970s, had become classic by the 1980s.” So during the times of the 1960’s to the 1980’s platform shoes were being made in uncomfortable and comfortable forms. Uncomfortable being high dramatic arched platform heels by possibly being put in positions where your on your tippy toes with your ankles hurting, to a more comfortable platform where the sole was thick all the way through to give you extra cushion and support. In the early 1990’s platform shoes began to carry on, Vivienne Westwood an United Kingdom fashion designer re-introduced the high heel platform into the high fashion in early 1990’s. In the, Platform Shoes article that I it stated that during this time of the early 1990’s, “while wearing a pair of Super Elevated Gillie with five-inch platforms and nine-inch heels that the supermodel, Naomi Campbell, fell on the catwalk at a fashion show. However they did not catch on quickly and platform shoes only began to resurface in mainstream fashion in the late 1990s, thanks in part to the UK band the Spice Girls, whose members performed in large shoes.” Platform shoes continued to increase in popularity with high then ever platform heels, sneakers, and sandals and also more crazier detailed designs as the years went on. In an article that I read called, “Why We Love (and Hate) Platform Shoes” by Kari Molvar, she says, “THE RIGHT PAIR of platform shoes can literally elevate your look, giving you up to an extra 2 inches of height over single-sole heels—and soaring confidence to match. The stacked sole delivers height with less stress on the ball of the foot as well. It’s not quite a 6 Hicks sneaker, but as heels go, it’s relatively comfortable.” Platform shoes were first discovered in Europe and the United States in the 1930s but didn’t reach their full potential of popularity until the 1970s. These shoes were worn by both male and female and one male group in particular that wore these shoes were a group called “Kiss” that became a performing band in the 1970s. Many of us know this group by there upbeat rock music and crazy but interesting fashion looks. And throughout there unique fashion looks they would wear the most dramatic looking platform shoes that were mostly made using things like spikes, metallic, and leather. “Kiss” always wore platform boots every time they would perform and one of the boots they wore were called the, “The Destroyer Boots” that were worn by Gene Simmons from the group “Kiss”. These boots pull on over the knees and were decorated with metallic studs.

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