Скачать или смотреть High Heels: Invented for War, Worn for Fashion

High heels weren’t invented for women.

They began as functional riding gear—a heel designed to lock a boot into a stirrup so a rider could stabilize at speed. Then the object moved into European courts, where heels became a status signal: proof you didn’t work with your hands.

And when Louis XIV turned heels into royal propaganda, the shoe stopped being just footwear. It became a hierarchy you could wear.

In this Object History episode, you’ll see how high heels evolved from war and control → luxury and class → body politics and modern identity—and why this “fashion item” has never been neutral.

In this video you’ll learn:

Where high heels actually came from (before fashion)

How heels became a tool of class and power

Why heels flipped from masculine status to feminine expectation

The modern heel’s real function: posture, performance, and social meaning

Chapters
00:00 The twist: heels weren’t made for women
00:25 Before fashion: the riding heel
02:10 War turns into luxury
02:45 Heels enter Europe as status
04:35 Royal propaganda and the court heel
07:10 The meaning flips
09:30 The modern heel’s real function
11:40 Heels as class warfare
13:15 Backlash cycles
15:10 The Object History takeaway
16:40 Final question

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