Heel of a Shoe

A Small Block That Sets the Whole Posture

Raise the back of a shoe and the whole body adjusts: weight shifts toward the ball of the foot, the calf and the line of the leg change, and the wearer's height and stance change with them. That is why the heel, although it is only the projection at the back of the shoe below the heel bone, carries so much of a shoe's character. At low heights — the stacked leather heel of a dress shoe or the low block under a boot — the heel mainly improves the balance of the shoe, gives the arch a defined break between heel and forefoot, and provides a durable striking surface at the point where the foot first meets the ground. Heel strikes wear hard, so heels are built to be repaired: the bottom layer, the heel lift or top piece, is replaceable on quality footwear.

Heel construction varies with the work the shoe must do. A riding boot's heel is shaped to catch a stirrup; the high heel said to descend from that design keeps the boot from slipping through. A work boot's broad, low heel spreads impact and steadies the foot on ladders and uneven ground. A dance shoe's heel is placed and angled for turning and balance on a floor. In each case the measurements that matter are heel height, the pitch it creates between heel and toe, and the size of the ground contact: a tall, narrow heel concentrates the same body weight on a far smaller point than a low, wide one, which is why the two walk so differently.

High Heels and Fashion

The raised high heel moved long ago from function to fashion. Worn commonly by women and sometimes by men, the high heel lengthens the apparent line of the leg, changes the wearer's gait, and signals formality or occasion in a way a flat shoe does not. Fashion has cycled the heel through every proportion: thin stiletto heels, block heels, wedge heels that join heel and sole in one slope, kitten heels that offer a token lift, and platform shoes that raise heel and forefoot together so height increases without the same steep pitch. Each proportion changes not just the look of the shoe but the mechanics of walking in it.

Heel vocabulary is part of buying and making shoes accurately. Height is measured up the back of the heel; the breast is the forward face of the heel; the seat is where the heel joins the shoe's upper structure. Boots, sandals, clogs and dress shoes all solve the same problem — how to support the heel bone and balance the shoe — at different heights and in different materials, from stacked leather and wood to molded synthetics. The definition stays constant through all of them: the projection at the back of the shoe, resting below the heel bone, built for balance, for decoration, or for both at once.