This Simple-Looking Item May Confuse Younger Folks, But It Was Genuinely Useful

Fashion is ever-evolving, and most styles make a comeback. However, certain items are forgotten, such as the high heel pad.

The High Heel Pad was Invaluable

The high heel pad, often recognized by older generations of women, is a little foam or gel insert that would go into the heel of a shoe. This prevented blistering and made long days or nights more bearable for women’s feet.

The High Heel Pad Changed Lives

While women of today wear more casual or comfortable footwear our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers often wore heels, even during a day of tending to household chores, raising children, and long workdays when women entered the workforce.

The High Heel Pad of Yesterday and Today

The high-heel pad is ingenious and still relevant to women who prefer dressing up and is still on the market. However, it’s not the only fashion accessory or tool that’s hardly recognizable by today’s generation.

Forgotten Vintage Brands

Rather, numerous, once highly sought after, vintage brands have been forgotten. For instance, Gunne Sax was founded in San Francisco in 1967, and its signature designs were inspired by romantic prairie, Victorian, and Renaissance styles. Interestingly, Hillary Clinton wore a Gunne Sax wedding dress when he married Bill in 1975. While Gunne Sax no longer exists, their timeless creations are some of the most highly prized vintage clothing. However, their popularity has died down and most women of today won’t recognize the name.

Caché

Meanwhile, a name that has been forgotten but might sound familiar is Caché, founded in Miami in 1976. Although they started with formalwear, they quickly expanded to include “trend-driven” casualwear and became huge in the 90s and early 2000s. However, by 2015, the hype had died down, and the company filed for bankruptcy, closing its remaining retail locations.

Henri Bendel

Another prominent brand, Henri Bendel was around for over 100 years before closing its retail locations and website in 2019. Today, used purses and other accessories sell for between $60 to a few hundred dollars.

Modern Touches

However, younger generations likely don’t remember when Henri Bendell was a fashion icon. Unsurprisingly, fashion changes with each new generation and trend. While many things come back, they’re often personalized to create a more modern style that fits current trends.

Some Things Never Go Out of Style

Moreover, vintage pieces of fashion history are highly sought after and never go out of style. Fortunately, high heels aren’t in that category, meaning fewer women need high-heel pads. However, women’s fashion is so vast and complex that footwear makes up only a small part of fashion. Here is a brief look at women’s footwear throughout generations.

A Brief History of Women’s Footwear

Purportedly, there’s evidence of footwear dating as far back as 3500 BC, when women wore sandals made of woven reeds or leather. They were practical for warmer climates and protected the feet against sharp rocks, sticks, spearheads, or arrowheads. Meanwhile, ancient Egyptian women wore shoes with intricate designs made of papyrus leaves and leather to symbolize their status. In contrast, it wasn’t until medieval Europe that women started wearing heels, thus creating a need for high-heel pads.

Practicality Over Comfort

Heels were initially designed to be more practical for riding horses because they provide more stability in the stirrups. Shortly after, heels became a symbol of aristocracy and remained popular as women’s footwear until the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today, women’s shoes come in various styles, from formal and intricate high heels to slip-ons, tennis shoes, and sandals.

The options are seemingly endless, and fortunately, not every option requires a high-heel pad to help you make it through the day or night. Alternatively, shoe in-sole gel or foam pads provide tired and achy feet with extra protection and comfort, prolonging one’s ability to take on the day ahead.