Time to get stuck into some silliness!
I came across a really amusing article recently, about the medieval trend for long-tipped, carrot-shaped shoes, worn by men of high status in Europe, which were considered rather sexy (ooh la la).
Apparently at the time, men’s tunics were getting shorter so they could better show off their legs (clad in fancy coloured tights) and, due to the low cut that showed off the ankles, and the pointy carrot tip that elongated the leg line, these shoes — known as poulaines — were all the rage among fashion conscious noblemen.
Of course, they were also absolutely ridiculous and not at all functional, with the tips stuffed with moss, hair, or even whalebone, all of which caused many accidents while walking.
At some point, the poulaines’ tips became so long and silly that a king had them outlawed!
Interestingly enough though, as silly as these silly shoes look, the reason behind the trend may have been a little darker.
‘Perhaps the best explanation for this confounding flamboyance is that the shoes emerged soon after the Black Death killed 30 to 60 percent of the population of Europe. “It may have been a reaction to a type of austerity,” Keily says. “The plague left a landscape with a lot of people who had lost close family members, a generation of mourning. Suddenly there were less people who had more money to spend on clothing.” So poulaines may have been a kind of retail therapy for coping with the surprise disappearance of 25 million people.’ — More in this article here.
Whoah. That’s dark!
The above is taken from one of my older newsletters, so sign up to my newsletter below, if you like this sort of very weird thing! (I also talk about books and writing too!)PJ Nwosu
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PJ Nwosu writes dark mystery novels set in epic fantasy worlds.
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