Shoes: A Brief History

Changing styles in footwear have always captured the imagination and communicated the priorities and ambitions of the wearer—during the reign of Henry VIII, exaggerated shapes and wide toes were footwear’s reflection of the aggressive social climate of the court, while engravings of Queen Victoria show impossibly narrow slippers, worn in pursuit of 19th-century ideals of daintiness. This colorful book provides an engaging overview of the history of footwear.