Arlyn Martinez Art 3410 Professor Lung February 27, 2018 The Platform Shoe 1970’s-1990’s Shoes have been around for over 400 years and have really begun to evolve as time has gone on. For many people, shoes are a big fashion statement and they say a lot about who we are as individual people. When I look at someone, the first thing I notice is what they are wearing including what kind of shoes they have on. Are they wearing sandals? Do they have fitness shoes on? Or are they wearing some comfortable boots? All of these clues give us insight at the kind of lifestyles these people lead. For the people living in the 70’s, the most prevalent fashion of the time included the well-known platform shoe. The platform shoe fad truly began in the 70’s era and some historians note that this could have well been the longest lasting shoe fad to have ever occurred. “At the beginning of the fad, they were worn primarily by young women in their teens and twenties, and occasionally by younger girls, older women, and (particularly by the disco era) by young men, and although they did provide added height without nearly the discomfort of spike heels, they seem to have been worn primarily for the sake of attracting attention” (Brown). During this time, several magazine ads were featuring this rising fashion trend. One of the most popular magazines that contributed greatly to this was the magazine known as “Seventeen”. They had various advertisements that featured the platform shoe and tried to reach the youth audience and get them to purchase these shoes so that they would become a part of this wide trend. One of the advertisements they featured was from the brand “Bakers/Leeds”. This advertisement shows a young woman who looks like she could possibly be in her early 20’s and is modeling a platform shoe with very business-like clothing and a smile. Beside her, we see a hand that is enlarged and holding up the same shoe so that we are able to see a close up of the actual shoe. There is also another vintage 1970’s advertisement for Nunn Bush “Brass Boots” which were platform knee-high lace up boots. These boots look like they were crafted with great attention to detail and using sturdy material. Famous shoe designer, Salvatore Ferragamo, was inspired by the first modern version of the platform shoe that was created by Moshe (Morris) Kimel. Kimel designed the platform shoe for actress Marlene Dietrich in the early 1930s. Kimel then settled in Los Angeles in 1939 and opened up the Kimel Shoe Factory which also left a stronger impact of the platform shoe in the West. Not only this, but immediately afterwards, Ferragamo released a platform sandal in 1938 called “The Rainbow”. He experimented with new materials for his shoes as a result of wartime rationing during World War II (DeMello). As to how these shoes were made, the answers varied. Different materials were used depending on the kind of heel you wanted and what the occasion was for wearing the shoe. “Sometimes the platform was made of wood. Others were fashioned from cork and others from plastic or lucite-type materials.” (Classic 70’s). The shoes commonly measured 2 inches from the front of the shoe and an average of 4-5 inches on the heel. However, some people chose to wear a much higher heel for their own personal preference. The shape of the heel differs much from today’s platform which is more focused towards the front of the shoe with a much slimmer heel. Compared to the 70’s where the heel of the shoe held a more chunky shape and was much more wider. In the past when the platforms were first invented, they were used for cultural values that showed a sort of hierarchy. However, the platform shoes were “thought to have originated with prostitutes in Venice. Eventually they became popular among the aristocracy, both in Italy and the Ottoman Empire. They indicated that you were so wealthy you didn’t need to work, or really walk” (New York Post). The wearer would display their wealth by wearing these shoes and the higher the heel was, the more money the owner of them had. In the 70’s, the shoe was more intertwined with what is known as “disco culture”. Disco had an enormous impact on society and changed both the music and the fashion industry. It began by developing in night clubs and was music that was meant to be danced to with specific dance moves. “Disco spawned several specific dances, including the hustle, the bump, and the YMCA. The latter was popularized by the village people, one of the first singing groups of gay men to have a song hit the mainstream music charts” (Estrella). The songs they were playing started off by only playing exclusively in night clubs but later it began to spread to the mainstream media. Disco music also began to make itself present in the film industry and many actors would have roles as disco dancers. The disco music industry grew so much that even singers who were not necessarily singers within that genre of music began to adapt to this new style and include their own disco songs. Singers such as Rod Stewart, Cher, and even the group Kiss had all recorded at least one disco song in their career. With the rise of disco music came the beginning of flamboyant disco fashion. “The heyday of disco fashion blossomed from the music played at gay underground New York clubs such as The Loft, Tenth Floor, and 12 West in the early 1970’s. Other clubs such as Infinity, Flamingo, The Paradise Garage, Le Jardin, and The Saint launched a disco culture that brought with it an anything-goes attitude and all-night dancing” (Julie). Disco fashion was something that could be described as lively and full of patterns and synthetic polyester. Clothing during this time was made to fit very loosely on the body, although some garments were more tight fitting. It was very common for people to caught in a pair of bell bottoms, platform shoes, flowy tops, backless halter tops, colorful suits, hot pants, and lots and lots of glitter. In this era, society seemed to definitely escape the restrictive undergarments they had to wear in the past and were able to now further express their creative freedom with their clothing and shoes. Disco dancers were known for wearing all of this clothing because it made it easier for them to stride along the dance floor while wearing all of those loose and flowy garments. Along with these garments, dancers would wear over the top platform shoes. The disco culture spread throughout not just fashion, but the film industry as well. Platforms in the 1970’s were associated with both the disco culture and pimp fashion. One major example of this was John Travolta in his starring role in Saturday Night Fever. He wore a three piece white suit and a pair of the famous platform boots during his dance scene. After the film was released in December of 1977, film critic Gene Siskel fell in love with the suit. A year later, Siskel purchased the suit at a charity auction for $2,000. Seventeen years later, the suit was lent to the Victoria and Albert museum for its Hollywood Costume exhibit that opened in October (Bamfstyle). These dancers would wear platform shoes that were reminiscent to what we now know as the oxford shoe. They would even reach to more extravagant levels and wear platform shoes that included live aquariums. These shoes could be purchased only from small boutique specialty stores. “The clear platform heels were either removable or had some kind of flap at the back that lifted so that the wearer could fill with whatever he or she wanted. People report filling the heels with teddy bears, gumballs, marbles or crinkled colored tissue paper” (Wolf). These shoes seemed durable enough to last for a long time, however the fish were probably considered lucky if they ever survived through a night of dancing. Although platforms were something that was considered “popular” to wear, with this positivity also brought controversy. “In the 1970’s platform shoes were somewhat controversial in the USA, partly because many of the styles of the time never went through any formal design process, and were, in effect, designed on the factory floor, partly because fashion designers had unusually little success in efforts to dictate public tastes, and partly because of associations with hippies, youthful rebellion, and both feminists and prostitutes” (Brown). The platform shoes that were made out of clear plastic were commonly associated with the adult entertainment industry because that was the common style of shoes that would be worn by strippers and pole dancers. For some reason, this made the shoes widely popular amongst both US and UK women in their twenties although it was seen as controversial by many. Wearing platforms were seen as being both masculine in the way that they were thought to make one appear more powerful, and feminine in that they gave men an androgonyous quality. One could argue that the various style icons of the 70’s and ahead influenced the general public and started various clothing trends that also included the platform shoe. One big star of the 70’s was Diana Von Furstenberg. Diana was known for wearing an iconic wrap dress in the year 1974.