[Jewelry making - Article 00007] - [Orchid] [Tidbits] High Heels

[Benjamin Mark]

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    Inch by inch... beginning with the sixteenth century... they grew.
    But they were not for women. Nay nay sweet boids of yute. They were
    for the guys. Their first purpose--for all things have a purpose you
    see--their first purpose... keep the heel secured in the stirrup when
    riding upon one's mighty steed. 

    But as civilization grew... so did the purposes of the manly high
    heeled shoe. We're in the Middle Ages. Sanitation is a tad lacking.
    Human and animal waste strew the streets. High-heeled shoes offer not
    only a modicum of protection against the possibility of sinking heel
    deep into a wretched pile of dung... but that very protection also
    offers the wearer a degree of psychological well-being. In those
    days... stepping into "it" was not considered good luck... rather it
    was considered a bit inconvenient... to say the least. 

    In fact--as an aside to high-heeled shoes--clogs were invented for
    the same purpose. In Germany--around the mid 1500's--a shoe came
    along called the Pump. It was a loose sort of slipper. It had a low
    heel. The sound it made as it hit the ground with each step was
    "plump, plump" which is how the shoe derived it's name ... for those
    of you who enjoy a little onomatopoeia. It is from this shoe that the
    more recent woman's slipper derived its name. 

    Then came the mid-1600's. King Louis XIV was running things. Male
    boots with high heels were the rage. As France attained its zenith of
    military power--a delusional illusion the French seem to foster
    within their culture to this very day--haute couture reached dizzying
    heights... as did the growth of the heel. Louis's towering
    achievements--possibly a compensation for his rather stubby
    height--paralleled the inches he added to his heels in order to
    probably meet the gazes of his sub-lings eye to eye. 

    The world went crazy. They all wanted to emulate old Louis. And so
    the high-heel grew... and grew... till it reached the staggering
    height of three inches. This was known as the French Heel... and the
    women of the world adopted this new craze. And it stuck.
    Interestingly enough... as women's heels grew... men's heels
    declined. By the 1920's, high heels became an alluring adjunct to
    the female arsenal of enticement. Put a high-heel together with a
    nylon stocking with the seam running up the back of the calf and
    thigh... and you have every woman running neck and neck in the world
    of sexy with the likes of Marlene Dietrich. I know I know. I'm dating
    myself a bit here. But I'm a Dietrich fan from way back. Sing Lili
    Marleen to me and my eyes begin to cross. 

    So where does this all lead? Well... it leads to a bejeweled high-
    heeled card-holder slipper. Quite attractive I think. A must-see.

    For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits...may I
    direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
    scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
    Current Tidbits... and then click on it in order to view a Swarovski
    Crystal laden card holding high heel shoe.

And there ya have it.
That's it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
http://www.tyler-adam.com
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