History Of Shoes Essays Examples

Archaeological excavations confirm that leather shoes appeared at a very early stage of human development. The first of its forms were extremely primitive: a piece of leather wrapped around the legs and fastened in several places. Then came the shoes of the cut pieces of various shapes. Of all leather goods footwear was the most utilitarian part of the costume and there was the largest variety of different designs.
Examples of folk shoes came down to us in the form that slightly changed and continue to serve not only as sources of inspiration, but also examples of good designs. Analysis of the development of popular types of shoes leads us to believe that the principle from which proceeded craftsmen who created the shoes, was the prototype of the modern artistic design.
Shoes - the most sculptural part of the costume in terms of form. Shoes should be comfortable, so their form should receive special attention. Three-dimensional shape approximating to the shape of the foot, was given to the shoe via divisions and joints. Division can be constructive and decorative; the first group includes those that share the workpiece on the details, the second have only decorative value.
Initially, the shoe had the minimum number of divisions. With the development of technology and improvement of methods of processing materials, design of shoes has become more complex, there appeared a rich decor. Leather shoes consisted of one piece and had a trough-shaped form. This kind of shoes transformed in different countries in different ways.
The human put his foot on a piece of leather and wrapped the foot. In order to keep this primitive kind of shoe on the foot, on the edges there were made holes through which was run leather belt encircling the leg. However, the resulting folds rubbed legs and people had to cut the excess material. Thus, there formed cut uppers "darts" and later appeared some details. Gradually, the design was divided into upper (blank) and bottom (sole).
Outsole is a kind of patch, which was sewn onto the lower part of the worn-out shoes. Introduction seams in shoes happened gradually, gently; joints made only where they were needed in terms of function, rationality. In the development of shoes, it is possible to distinguish four types of design: 1) sandal; 2) shoe; 3) boot and shoe; 4) boots and ankle boots.
The oldest of these are sandals. They got a special development in Egypt, Greece and Rome. Design feature is the possibility of sandals by a combination of interweaving better fit them to the foot, creating stability and ease of movement. The basis is the sole sandal that protects the foot from uneven ground, so there was more common multi-layered sole, which also contributed to prolonging the time of shoes wearing. The second essential element of sandals are thongs. Sandals can be closed toe portion, with a closed heel part, strengthening the ankle, fixed on the instep.
Most of the eastern type sandals are characterized by bracing extending between the thumb and middle finger. Depending on the purpose of sandals, changed their design, the number of belts and decor. If we compare the functional characteristics of African sandal, with Greek, we can see that in the first case, it has clearly predominant aesthetic function, while the second is more pronounced utilitarian function and sandal has a simple stable form.
The most complex in terms of design and construction are boots and low boots. Boots are found in the southern and northern peoples living in the plains and mountainous areas, as most utilitarian, well protecting the foot. In the northern nations, they are a major footwear.
The shape and design of boots, as well as other kinds of shoes, changed constantly. The boots are usually a two- or single-joint systems, in which the location and number of seams defined degree of encirclement, the size of animal skins. In the single-weld boots, the seam was often located behind a double-seam stitching on the sides. In the boot the most important part is the one, covering the ankle, as it is subjected to the greatest loads due to the motion of the foot.
Gradually configuration of crotch evolved: it was increasingly adjoined to the leg in the ankle and gradually decreased in size. Eventually it became only reaching to the highest point of the thumb, which required modification of the toe portion of the boot. Sole was linked to the uppers via seams that formed a bulk surface of the workpiece. In the XV century, there appeared boots, in which the tongue vamp passed on bootleg, the configuration of the tongue was very diverse.
Boot of certain peoples are characterized by large decorative parts. Fastening elements in them are the ties and air loops, the toe is pointed in the form of a triangle, the excess material neatly stacked in a small building and decorative perceived as a need. The toe may also be formed by bonding a top of the sole.
Changes in the shape of shoes most often occur due to changes in fashion. In general, the logical behavior of the forms has an objective and subjective nature: on the one hand, the development of shoes is influenced by the will of human, artist, social facilities, production processes, on the other - change and transformation of the form may be partly related to the psychology and human biological rhythms. Rhythmic alternation of forms due to the harmonic essence of the process of development of the shoe, its system of organization.