High-heeled shoe
Tacón alto
- Date
- c. 1600 · confidence low
- Place
- Isfahan, Iran
- Credited to
- Persian riders (adopted by European courts)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Footwear with a raised heel that began as a Persian rider's boot to hold the foot in the stirrup. The Safavid delegation sent to Europe around 1599-1600 made it fashionable as a status marker among the aristocracy.
Persian use is documented by tenth- and sixteenth-century pottery and miniatures; the causal link with European fashion around 1600 is a widespread interpretation, not direct proof. Date of the embassy of Abbas I.
What it led to
- luxury male footwear of Louis XIV's court
- evolution into the women's heeled shoe in the 18th century
- modern fashion footwear industry