There’s a few different ways to say it, but in the end it comes down to the old adage that what goes around comes around. That goes for several different things and one of the most remarkable is the platform shoes that we wore on our feet as far back as the 16^th century and as recently as the 1970s. When you’re looking at the great selections of shoes that are available at place like OneGoodPair.com, it’s important to keep in mind that some of these current fashions have older cousins.

Thick soled platform comfortable shoes did not originate with Gene Simmons or any other member of Kiss. Actually these distant relatives to the more modern popular items like the Clarks Walllabees Taupe Suede, were developed hundreds of years ago to raise the wearer’s feet above the muck in the common street. Still there are several reasons that the modern platform shoe is popular and one of them is fact that they make the person wearing them look taller. Much like the Clarks Wallabees that have been in the number one position for venerated footwear since the 1960s, the platform shoe was a status symbol in years gone by.

And it’s a fact that there was no other group that made more of their status than the ladies of 16^th century Venice. This was the first location where platform shoes were introduced and the style at the time was called chopines and the wearer could only stay upright with a servant on each side holding her up. Fortunately, chopines were to give away to a style that was much closer to the platform shoe that we see today.

Well before shoes like the Clarks Wallabees Chestnut Suede made their impression on the shoe world, Italian designers like Salvatore Ferragamo were working to perfect the platform shoe back in the 1930s. One of his designs, the edge platform shoe, was widely copied after his design was made public. Since their invention in the 1970s, platform shoes have been made from a variety of materials including cork and wood. These shoes were often seen on both the streets and the stages in that decade and they were popularized by many of the musicians of the day like the band Kiss.

Although the audience for platform shoes are not as widespread today as they were back then, other popular items like the Clarks Wallabees continue to have great support to the present.