Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-09-02
THE FASHION IN HEELS.
THE FLICHTY DAME HAS HER
NOTIONS ABOUT THEM.
Even With So Humble Bit of wearing
Apparel. She Has Concerned Her
self and Ordered Them
stretched or Shrunk.

began to DO made high and stilted.
the fashion became firmly fixed and
has lated to the present day.
1t would be difficult to say exactly
when high heels first appeared but
they were worn in England at least as
long ago as the early part of the six
teenth century.
The Turkish original was kind OF
patten. worn doubtless. to raise the
wearer above the dirt
In the plates 10 George Sandys'
Travels n well-known seventeenth
century book the Turkish women are
represented wearing these chopines,
Or 'chioppnes. as writers called
them.
In Venice they were In very CON-
mon use. They were made OF wood.
covered with leather of different
colors and were often curiously
painted and sometimes gilt.
They were worn absurdly high.
some being raised eighteen inches
from the ground. the degree OF no.
bility possessed by the lady-wearer
being indicated by the height of the
chopine.
On stills OF this kind unassisted
walking naturally became no easy
task. and hence was seen tho ridicul-
Gus spectacle OF lady supported on
either side by attendants when she
wen: abroad, so that she might not
fall.
The word 'chopine' was supposed
b. our older writer's to DO OF Italian
origin and was often spclt cioppino,
Rn6 in the plural cioppini, as if
genuine Italian word. But strangely
enough. Notwithstanding the fashion
that undoubtedly prevailed at Venice,
the word does not appear in Italian
dictionaries. 1t is probably OF Span
lsh origin.
The modern Spanish chaplin means
a clog with a cork sole. Hamlet
alludes TO these exalted pattens in
his welcome TO the playing when 10
says: 'By'r lady. yCur lalysh!p is
nearer ID heaven than when | saw
you last by the altitude OF a chopine
This shows that the Venetian fash
ionable foot. wear was familiar To
Eli2abethan Englishmen; but its in
Auence in the shape OF high heeled
shoes had long before been felt in
that country.
At the Tudor Exhibition. held re.
Gently in London. there were to be
seen the show worn by Henry VIII
at the famous meeting Of the Field OF
the Cloth OF Gold. They were OF
velvet beautifully embroidered and
had silver edges aud pretty high
heels. Some shoes worn b. the un-
fortunate Anne Boleyn were also
shown; and their heels were decid edly
high.
Another exhibit was a pair OF shoes
formerly belonging 10 queen Eliza
beth. which she left mt Northiam, in
Sussex where on one occasion she
dined on the village green on her way
to Rye The heels of her majesty 5
shoes were very high.
In EliZabethan times corked shoes
were much worn, the cork ihickeu ng
towards the heel. In an old comedy
The Fleiro," printed in 1918. "a lady
who inquiries. "Why the citizens
wcare all corks in their shoes?' Is
told: IT'S Madam to keep up the
customs of the cite, only to be light
heeled."
During the reigns of Elizabcth's
Immediate successors heels increased
in height. In King james DAYS or
in the early years OF Charles's reign.
before political troubles and civil war
drove dandyism out OF sight, aad
almost out OF existence for many
years fop delighted 10 exhibit his
white silk stockings embroidered
with elaborate CLOCKS" in variety
OF colors, above shoes 18th heels cut
away at each corner aud OF pro.
tentous height
About this time the ladies'. too. got
upon their stills and took to chopines
for the eccentric John Bulwer writ
ing towards the middle of the century.
denounces their adoption Of this
| fashion, which. he says is a monstrous
affectation. initiated from the Venet an
and Pers an laJies.
In the time OF George / the beau or
smart wore square toed shoes with
very small diamond buckles. great
flap on the instep and high red heels.
The speculative man IA of 1870. the
famous bubble year produced a great
crop OF caricatures and satirical songs
:.nd prints. Many of these were col
lected in u folio volume published in
Holland. and among them Is n large
engraving satirising generally the
madness OF spectators.
1t represents Fortune being driven
by Folly. her car being drawn by fg-
1res presenting the chief bubble
companies from the South Sea and
the Mississippi schemes downwards
The attire of Folly the driver. gives
us complete picture of the female
fashion OF the day; it includes n greaI
hoop petticoat patches and shoe:
with very high heels
The Oldest Postmaster.