Paris the Fashion Capital

For almost forty years, heels were not to be found in fashionable Western footwear. By the mid-1800s, the creation of wide paved boulevards in cities such as Paris and New York ushered in an age of promenading, café-going, and window-shopping. As wealthy women availed themselves of these new pastimes, fashionable footwear became sturdier. The high heel, which reappeared at this time, was now seen as a distinctly feminine form of footwear.