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Footwear - A Brief Synopsis
Necessity is truly the mother of invention. At the same time, it is also seen that what is invented as pure necessity catches the imagination of the public and goes on to become a style statement. Footwear is an ideal example. It must have originated as a piece of extremely functional piece of wear, used to save the feet from the dangers of a sharp rock or anything equally harmful. As it was with clothes, footwear, too, leaped its original character of being strictly functional and embraced the fashionable purpose of making someone look good.
And, it would be wrong to surmise that the globalization of the fashion industry is to be blamed for that. Remember the phrase, 'A gentleman is known by the shoes he wear'? It seems that the custom of shoes being treated as a mark of distinction has been ingrained in the social psyche, long before. Leather, plastic, rubber, textiles and wood are used as materials for footwear making. |
The end result is usually attractive. It often spurs people to start building a huge collection and become legendary like Imelda Marcos. Of course, Lady Marcos has her own share of fame but very few people would be able to forget her shoe-fetish. However, the apparently simple shoe has some intricate components. Adhesives, air-cushion, buckle, counterfort, eyelet, heel, hook, insole, laces, reinforcement tape, sole, steel shank, tack, toe-puff, tread and welt are the different accessories that make up a shoe.
The passage of time from the inception of footwear till today has seen many innovations and styles. However, according to Rossi (1997), the variations of style are limited to eight different types.
The first one has to be the ubiquitous boot. The simple definition should be anything that extends up to the ankle. As it is evident, that the types of boots are innumerable and so are the materials from which they are fashioned.
A clog is a thick-soled wooden shoe, sometimes with leather upper. Another very popular variety is categorized as lace-ups. Technically, any low-cut shoe that is fastened with lacings is called a lace-up. The Oxford Shoe and the Derby Style come under this category.
The moccasin is perhaps the oldest form of footwear. The word moccasin originates from the North American Indian language and of course it is popular as American Indian footwear. History says that this footwear goes back 14,000 years and was possibly used for the first time by the Mongol community. Mule is a backless shoe or slipper with or without a heel.
Monks are very similar to Derby shoes but they have a cross over section to fasten the quarters with a side buckle. Pumps are heeled shoes with low cut fronts and usually no fastening.
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