Womens Platform Shoes

Ever since Prince Charming became enamored with Cinderella's glass slipper, shoe trends have come and gone, but some styles last for centuries and then immediately blossom into the worst shoe trends imaginable.

Platform shoes have existed since the 1600s and were moderately popular in the 1930s and 1940s, but they exploded into trendy high fashion in the 1970s.

People with shoe fetishes were probably in their glory when platforms came on the scene. The added height, extended foot contour, and elongated leg had the desired effect for both wearers and fashion admirers.

Platform shoes were not unique to Americans either; all across the globe the influence could be seen. UK, Asia, Japan, and China had their unique cultural styles.

Platform shoes, in the 1930s and 1940s, were rather modest and sedate with soles from one half inch to one inch in height. They were made mostly from wood and cork because of WWII and shortages or bans or certain materials.

When the 1970s rolled around the platform heights increased to three and five inches with the most outrageous shoe standing at eleven inches tall.

These 1970 platform shoes were anything but modest. They had designs with swirls, stars, moons, stripes, flowers, and other bright colors that were referred to as psychedelic colors. They were chunky and clunky. They were the mod fashion at the time when hippies were barely maturing to adults and young people were attempting to make their first fashion statements.

I remember platform shoes from the 1970s and the celebrities that wore them like John Travolta, Bono, Elton John, and the KISS group band. Bono at five feet six inches probably benefited from them most, while Travolta admits to having kept his platforms from the Saturday Night Fever movie. Bono admits to still wearing platforms, but the others don't mention them much.

Platform shoes, besides being dangerous to wear, were the first genderless shoes for men and women, although men usually wore a boot style platform while women wore everything from sneaker platforms to six-inch stiletto platform heels. Medical doctors voiced their concerns about young people throwing their spines out of alignment and doing permanent damage.

Dr Vandergren, an orthopedic surgeon was one of the medical doctors who spoke out against platform shoes. He explained that with platform shoes the brain doesn't get the necessary feedback and the person wearing them loses touch with a sense of balance. He expressed concern that those who wore platform shoes could be doing irrevocable harm to their backs.

The story goes that supermodel Naomi Campbell stumbled and fell while parading down the runway in platform shoes. I wasn't aware that platform shoes were still available and selling, but there are at least a dozen sites on the Internet that offer them. The strangest pair I've come across features a tall platform with Gameboys lodged in each side of the platforms.

I can't think of a worst trend in shoe history than the platform, except perhaps the synthetic leather, fake suede, and sparkly jelly shoes. But they didn't last long.

Platform shoes have a centuries old history, but lately I haven't seen them being worn around my neighborhood. They're punk fashion shoes that have not yet died out, but like the dinosaur; I think they are becoming extinct. Green shoes will take their place, but the old watering hole won't be the same.