Dress Shoes for Women: An Overview

Most people that shop for women's dress shoes will testify that this particular wardrobe necessity comes in an astounding variety of colors, fabrics, and heel size. Needless to say, this variety can make learning about women's dress shoes a bit challenging. Luckily, anyone looking to quickly learn all that they need to know about the woman's dress shoe can do so here!

The Basics

Men and women should know the following three facts about women's dress shoes:

Rich History

Women's dress shoes have a rich history. The first evidence of them dates back to the 15th Century during the High Renaissance. At that time, women wore a raised shoe called a chopine. Since then, the heeled shoe has gone in and out of fashion due to religious, political, and economic reasons. During one period in history, Napoleon Bonaparte even banned heeled shoes in France in order to set new standards for class equality.

Types of Dress Shoes

In our modern world, there are 25 styles of heels that a woman's dress shoe can have. In addition to that, a woman's dress shoe is typically further broken down into categories of work shoes, evening or formal-wear shoes, or wedding shoes.

Heel Size Matters

The height of the heel on a woman's dress shoe generally ranges from flat to six inches tall. However, the average height of a dress show is 4.35 inches. Women should consider the type of event and how active they will be when selecting a dress shoe to wear. For instance, it is often unwise to where a shoe with a heel over four inches tall to an event that requires prolonged standing because the wearer of the shoe may become tired. When you are fatigued, it can be difficult to maintain good standing posture for an extensive period of time. Conversely, wearing a four-inch stiletto to a formal dinner where you will be sitting for most of the evening can be elegant and eye-catching.

Why Wear Dress Shoes?

There are three main reasons a women would wear a dress shoe. First, it may be out of necessity, such as wearing a dress shoe to work. Second, a dress shoe is appropriate to wear to formal occasions, like a wedding or an awards ceremony. Finally, a woman's dress shoe is often worn as part of a personal aesthetic, for it can reflect the style and taste of its wearer.

Popular Women's Dress Shoe Designers

There are only a few shoe designers that are known for their ability to create beautiful dress shoes for women that can be worn for any occasion. They are known world-wide, and these designers are:

• Manolo Blahnik
• Christian Louboutin
• Badgley Mischka
• Stuart Weitzman

Top 5 Routes for "Ladies Dress Shoes"

1. History of Footwear This website provides a chronological timeline on the history of both men's and women's footwear.
2. Be Clickless Blog Clickless is a retail site that sells attachments that you can add to your dress shoes to protect them from damage caused by rugged surfaces or daily wear and tear. The Clickless blog provides useful information regarding everything about dress shoes. The link to this particular article will teach you about each of the 25 types of heels in which women's dress shoes are available.
3. Steve Madden Shoe Glossary This link will lead you to a glossary of shoe types, materials, and construction on Steve Madden's retail site. The glossary is extensive and allows you to look up terms relating to dress shoes in alphabetical order.
4. Heels' International Shoe Size Conversion Chart See how a woman's shoe size varies from country to country using this site's "International Shoe Size Conversion Chart."
5. Huffington Post This article in the Huffington Post titled "11 Facts About Shoes That Will Knock Your Socks Off" lists 11 eye-opening facts about the history of the woman's dress shoe.