Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
Platform shoes are shoes, boots or sandals with thick soles, often made of cork, plastic, rubber or wood; wooden-soled platform shoes are technically also clogs. They are generally worn strictly for fashion, and for added height, and they have been worn in various cultures since ancient times. Platform shoes had some popularity in the United States in the 1930s, 1940s and very early 1950s, but their biggest and most prolonged American fad ran from between 1969 and 1973 into the late 1980s, worn primarily by younger women and, during the disco era, by younger men as well.
Platform shoes enjoyed some popularity in the United States in the 1930s, 1940s, and very early 1950s, but not nearly to the extent of their popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, when the biggest, and most prolonged, platform shoe fad in U.S. history occurred, beginning sometime between 1969 and 1973, and lasting until sometime between 1987 and 1990.
The most popular style of the time was a simple quarter-strap sandal with light tan water buffalo-hide straps (which darkened with age), on a beige suede-wrapped cork wedge-heel platform sole. These were originally introduced under the brand name, "Kork-Ease," but the extreme popularity (perhaps fueled by their light weight and soft leather) supported many imitators. Remarkably, even including all of the knock-offs, and given that they are said to have never been formally designed there was very little variation in style, and most of that variation was limited to differences in height.
As the fad progressed, manufacturers like Candie's stretched the envelope of what was considered too outrageous to wear, while others, like Famolare and Cherokee of California, introduced "comfort" platforms, designed to combine the added height of platforms with the support and comfort of sneakers, or even orthopedic shoes, and by the time the fad finally fizzled in the late 1980s, girls and women of all ages were wearing them. It may also be a by-product of this fad that Scandinavian clogs, which were considered rather outrageous themselves in the early 1970s, had become "classic" by the 1980s.
Platform shoes began to resurface in the late 1990s, and had firmly reestablished themselves in the fashions of the early 21st century, with a much higher threshold of what was considered outrageous: mothers of 2003 and 2004 typically think nothing of buying their preschool-age daughters platform sandals that parents of 1973 would not have wanted their high-school-age daughters wearing, and the Walt Disney Company has licensed Mickey Mouse cutouts and "Disney Princess" images on footwear that, thirty years ago, would have been considered totally inappropriate for the company's "wholesome" image.
Buffalo Boots is a brand which platform models were popular, especially in Europe (notably Germany and Norway), from the mid 1990's to the early 2000's.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/platform_shoe). 12/15/04 |
A platform raises the whole foot, and that distinguishes it from a high heel, which raises the heel alone and pitches the foot forward. The platform measurement that matters is the difference between the sole thickness under the toes and under the heel: a shoe with a deep platform and a high heel can stand tall while the foot itself rests at a gentle angle, which is the comfort claim platforms have always made. Soles are built from light materials because a solid block of any dense material would be too heavy to walk in: cork and balsa-like woods in the classic period, moulded plastic, rubber and foam compositions in modern versions, wrapped in suede, leather or fabric to finish the deep side wall that is the style's visual signature.
The fad cycle followed that construction. The 1970s version standardised early, the Kork-Ease pattern of tan straps on a cork wedge, and stayed remarkably uniform while makers such as Candie's pushed heights outward and others, such as Famolare and Cherokee of California, answered with comfort platforms combining height with sneaker-like support. Scandinavian clogs, outrageous at the start of the decade, were classics by its end, carried by the same taste for a raised wooden sole. When platforms resurfaced in the late 1990s, in styles such as the Buffalo Boots popular in Europe, the accepted threshold of height and bulk had risen with them, and platform soles have remained a recurring option on sandals, boots and trainers ever since, rising and falling in height rather than disappearing. Care follows the sole material: cork seals against water and should not be soaked, wrapped soles are cleaned as their covering dictates, and tall platforms of any era should be checked at the strap fixings, since the leverage of a deep sole works fixings harder than a flat shoe does.
A platform shoe is a shoe, boot or sandal with a thick sole, often of cork, plastic, rubber or wood, under the whole foot. Wooden-soled platform shoes are technically also clogs. Platforms are worn for fashion and for the added height the thick sole gives.
Platforms provided added height without nearly the discomfort of spike heels, since the foot stays flatter on a raised sole, but they seem to have been worn primarily for the sake of attracting attention, as fashion, during the fad that peaked in the 1970s disco era.
The most popular style was a simple quarter-strap sandal with light tan water-buffalo-hide straps on a beige suede-wrapped cork wedge platform sole, introduced under the brand name Kork-Ease. Its light weight and soft leather supported many imitators with very little variation in style.