A dark stage. A beam of light falls into the center. Then you hear it: click, clack, click, clack. Quick steps, hard heels. And finally, one of the most powerful men in the world enters the stage: the President of the USA, in high heeled shoes. Not as a provocation, but as a sign of rank and power. Such a scene is hardly imaginable today. But in the 17th century, powerful men demonstrated influence and masculinity with heeled shoes.
Around 1600, heeled shoes became fashionable for men in Western Europe, and by the 17th century, they were primarily seen at courts and among men of status. High heels were not always considered a feminine symbol. Their history shows how changeable gender roles are and how much fashion depends on who wears it and who evaluates it. But how did a symbol of male power become a symbol of femininity?
When paragraphs were still riding gear
The trail of high heels doesn't first lead to a fashion capital like Paris, Venice, or London. It leads to Western Asia into the Safavid Empire, which covered large parts of the 16th to 18th centuries today's Iran stamped. There, the stirrup initially had a tangible function. It helped riders to keep their foot stable in the stirrup to keep.
Whoever was in the saddle, stood up while riding, or aimed with a bow and arrow needed one thing above all else: Stop. The hat was not a fashion accessory at the beginning, but had a practical background. A bowl made of Nishapur from the 9th or 10th century Gilt in fashion history as an early indication of this connection between equestrian culture and heeled shoes. However, extant Persian riding shoes are only more clearly documented much later, especially in the 17th century.
Prince Sam Mirza (Shah Suleiman) Safavid on horseback, 17th century. The depiction shows the Safavid prince on horseback and refers to the close connection between equestrian culture, courtly rank, and political power in early modern Persia. | Source: Wikimedia Commons
That this became a sign of status was due to the social significance the art of riding. Horses were expensive, horsemanship was militarily important, and anyone who sat securely in the saddle also showed access to Power. The paragraph thus no longer stood for balance in the stirrup, but for access to privileged circles.
The distinction is important here. Not every elevated shoe is a High Heel in today's sense. This is about the paragraph as Heel lift, not platform shoes or other forms of elevated soles. The origin of the men's heel, therefore, lies less in the desire to appear taller.
1600: The Paragraph Finds Its Way to Europe
To Europe, the heel didn't just arrive as a fashionable curiosity. No, it was part of a larger cultural exchange. Because around 1600, Safavid Persia increasingly came into the focus of European courts. Shah Abbas I, the ruler of the empire at the time, sought to exchange with European powers. Primarily for strategic reasons.
Persia was in conflict with the Ottoman Empire and was therefore an interesting potential ally for Europe. Diplomatic missions, merchants, and adventurers traveled between Isfahan, then the capital of the Safavid Empire in present-day Iran, and European cities such as Rome, Prague, Madrid, and London.
This is how it was European courts visible how Persian elites presented themselves. They showed themselves with precious fabrics, weapons, courtly clothing, and shoes that were not only practical but also indicated rank.
How the Sherley brothers helped make Persian court culture visible in Europe
The brothers played a special role in this exchange Anthony and Robert Sherley. The two Englishmen arrived at the court of Shah Abbas I at the end of the 16th century. Anthony Sherley participated in a Persian embassy that 1599 set out for Europe. Their goal was to seek allies against the Ottoman Empire.
His brother remained even more closely connected to the Safavid court Robert Shirley. He later also appeared as an official envoy of the Persian ruler and became a dazzling figure between two worlds in Europe.
Sir Robert Shirley in Persian Ceremonial Dress – Anthony van Dyck, 1622. | Source: Wikimedia Commons / National Trust Image
This is particularly visible in a portrait of Anthony van Dyck from the year 1622. The portrait shows Robert Shirley not as an ordinary English nobleman, but in Persian ceremonial dress: with a turban, embroidered robe, sash, and weapon.
This image is important, even if it doesn't show high heels. Because it makes clear that diplomacy at that time didn't just work through contracts, letters, and alliances. It also worked through Clothing. Whoever performed at European courts brought with them a visible order of rank and origin.
Fabrics, weapons, headwear, and posture indicated who one was and on whose behalf one spoke. It was precisely in this climate that the heel also came to take on a new significance. What had been a practical detail of horseback riding thus gradually became a symbol in Europe aristocratic self-presentation.
High heels as a status symbol
This trend was particularly pronounced in France during the 17th century. The French court was under Louis XIV., which was written by 1643 to 1715 became the most important center of European fashion and self-expression. Versailles was not just a palace, but a stage for power. Anyone seen there had to display their rank and importance through their appearance.
Louis XIV understood this language better than almost any other ruler of his time. His wigs, his magnificent robes, his controlled demeanor, and his shoes were all part of a political performance. His red heels. In the late 17th century, the king wore high-heeled shoes that made him appear taller and more imposing.
Louis XIV in Coronation Regalia – Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701. | Source: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
His height is often estimated to be around 1.60 to 1.63 meters estimated. At the same time, the shoes accentuated his legs and his posture. At court, red heels became a symbol of exclusivity.
What mattered was not only the height of the shoe, but also who was allowed to wear it. In the court of Louis XIV, red heels were considered a privilege of the court elite. They signaled Closeness to the King and thus proximity to power. The shoe made the body appear taller, the calf more visible, and the demeanor more controlled. In a society where social rank could be read through colors, fabrics, and gestures, a high heel could signal who was at the top.
Chopinen: Women wore high shoes, but not heels
While the Persian riding boot made its way to Europe via the royal courts, other styles of elevated footwear existed at the same time. Particularly well-known are the Venetian chopines. These shoes were not high-heeled shoes as we know them today, but rather Platform shoes. Not just the heel, but the whole foot stood on a raised sole, often made of wood or cork. They were worn primarily by wealthy women.
For men, the heel was initially about stability in the stirrup and later about status at court. Chopines, on the other hand, were about something else entirely: visible status in everyday life! They made the wearer appear taller, kept dresses and feet away from the dirt on the street, and showed that a woman could afford elaborate clothing. After all, the higher the shoe, the more fabric was needed for the dress that fell over it.
Chopines, Italy, 16th century – from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. | Source: Wikimedia Commons / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain
Preserved 16th-century chopines, such as those found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, high platform shoes that lifted the entire foot. The museum describes them not only as protection from wet or dirty paths, but also as a visible sign of elevated social status.
That is exactly why the Distinction Important: Women certainly wore high-heeled shoes. But they did not automatically wear the kind of heels that originated in equestrian culture and initially became a men’s fashion trend in Europe. It was not until the 18th century these meanings gradually shifted.
18th Century: The Gender Shift Begins
From the late The 17th and early 18th centuries The change can be seen more clearly in surviving shoes and portraits. Men at court continued to wear shoes with heels. French court shoes from around the time of 1690 to 1700 For example, red heels, which were considered a sign of aristocracy. Also British men's shoes Dates from the mid-18th century still feature red heels and decorative details. So the heel did not suddenly disappear from men's fashion.
Edward, Duke of York – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1764/1765. | Source: Wikimedia Commons / Royal Collection, Public Domain
At the same time, higher heels also appeared in women's shoes, no longer just high platforms like with the chopines. French women's shoes um 1690 to 1700 show already decorated fabrics, floral embroidery, and narrower, elegant heels. In the 18th century, such shoes became increasingly aligned with fabrics and courtly elegance. The heel was thus no longer just a sign of rank, but also a part of the feminine-coded fashion aesthetic.
The change wasn't that men stopped wearing heels overnight and women suddenly took them over. It was a slow Drift apart. Men's heels remained more stable, wider, and strongly associated with court, military, or equestrian culture. Women's heels became finer, more decorative, and more strongly associated with elegance and posture.
Shoes, France, 1690–1700 – Silk and leather, Metropolitan Museum of Art. | Source: Wikimedia Commons / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain
Behind it lay a major cultural shift. In the 18th century, a gradual change began more sober male ideal Men's fashion became simpler, darker, and more practical. Flashy clothing was increasingly seen as vain, exaggerated, or effeminate. It was precisely because of this that the heel symbolically moved to the other side.
"Beards on men have never completely disappeared."
The masculine heel never completely disappeared. You can see it in riding boots, cowboy boots, Cuban heels, and later in stage fashion, rock, pop, drag, and queer fashion. From privileged rulers in military boots and cowboy boots to John Lennon's Beatle Boots and Elton John's 1970s platform shoes.
The paragraph remained visible where stage presence, posture, and masculinity consciously staged Indeed, pop culture clearly shows that heels were never just „feminine.“ In the 1960s, The Beatles popularized the Cuban heel, David Bowie used high heels and platform shoes as part of his androgynous stage persona, and in rock fashion, heels later became a symbol of exaggeration, sexuality, and controlled boundary-pushing.
Beatle Boots with Cuban Heel – Replica of the boot style made popular by the Beatles in the 1960s. | Source: Wikimedia Commons
So the men's heel didn't disappear from culture. It was just removed from the bourgeois everyday life displaced and re-emerged there, where masculinity could be performative rather than obedient.
What high heels reveal about gender and power today
Today, high heels are primarily considered a symbol women's fashion. The same shoe, which once signified male power, horsemanship, and courtly rank, was later declared a symbol of feminine elegance. It wasn't the heel that had fundamentally changed. What had changed was the glance on the body that carried him.
As long as the paragraph helped men appear taller and more imperious, it was No problem. At court, he could demonstrate power. On horseback, he could prove usefulness. In the staging of a king, he could reinforce authority. Only when the heel became more strongly associated with feminine fashion did its appraisal shift.
This shows how closely Aesthetics and Power connected. Men's fashion didn't just become simpler in the 18th century because men suddenly became more practical. Behind it was a new ideal of masculinity. The bourgeois man was supposed to appear controlled and purposeful. Pomp, jewelry, and ostentatious physicality were increasingly considered feminine or excessive. Only the female body was to conspicuous to be. It should look good, but also remain controllable.
That men in high heels are often perceived today as provocative, eccentric, or queer shows how deeply this order is embedded. A heel on a man's foot is irritating not because of the leather, the shape, or the height. It is irritating because it represents a Border visible power that was historically drawn.
What once signified male power is today quickly considered a break with masculine norms. The paragraph has not changed its gender. How exactly the paragraph became a woman's shoe is historically harder to grasp than its male history. Because power shifts are often only understood in Looking back visible, because their meaning only becomes apparent through temporal distance, later sources, and historical contextualization.
