A kitten heel is a short

stiletto heel A stiletto heel, or just stiletto, is a shoe with a long, thin, high heel. It is named after the stiletto dagger. Stiletto heels may vary in length from 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) to 25 cm (10 inches) or more if a platform s ...

, with a slight curve setting the heel in from the back edge of the shoe. The style was popularized by

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

, and recent followers of the fashion include

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

, and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

. Shoes with kitten heels may be worn at work in an office setting by people who wish to wear feminine attire that is still practical. For parties, kitten heels are an alternative for those who find high heels uncomfortable.

Definition

Kitten heels are shoes with a tapered heel of approximately 2.5 to 5 centimeters (1–2 in) in height. They are on the shorter end of stiletto shoes, which can have heels as tall as 12.5 centimeters (5 in).

History

Kitten heels were introduced in the late 1950s as formal fashion attire for young adolescent girls, as higher heels would have been considered unseemly for girls as young as thirteen because of, for instance, unease of walk. They were sometimes referred to as "trainer heels" in the US, indicating their use in getting young girls used to wearing high heels. However, by the early 1960s, they became fashionable for older teenagers and eventually for women of all ages. The demise of the

in the late 1960s meant that women could choose between a wider variety of intermediate length heels, which decreased the appeal of the kitten heel. However, the kitten heel reemerged in the 1980s along with

wedge heel A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converti ...

s, and have become once again fashionable since 2003, but are not made in abundance due to the preference for stiletto heels by women during this time period.

References

External links

Shoes vocabulary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitten Heel Shoes High-heeled footwear