It turns out women have always submitted their feet to extreme fashion. This is a picture of a woman in Damascas, Syria, in 1873. Notice anything weird about her outfit? Oh, yeah — she’s wearing sky-high platform shoes. Those platforms, known as “chopines,” were designed to protect women’s shoes and dresses from being sullied on the city streets. But they also served as a social signifier — the taller your chopines, the better your social standing. Some were more than 20 inches high. That really is a killer platform. [TYWKIWDBI blog]
