![]() ![]() ![]() Jackie Keily, senior curator at the Museum of London, which houses a large collection of poulaines, told Atlas Obscura that the footwear became popular not long after the Black Death, or bubonic plague, killed an estimated 25 million people. Worn largely by men, although by some women as well, crakows could be quite sexy because they were low cut and showed off a man’s ankles during a time when they wore shorter tunics and revealed more of their legs. Other Reasons for the Poulaine’s Popularity The poulaine showed that the wearer lived a life of leisure. Sometimes, the men would use a whalebone or tie a string or gold or silver chains to their knees from the shoes in order to prevent them from tripping, according to FIT. The shoes with ridiculously long toes were exorbitantly priced and would inhibit the user from doing any type of manual labor. The length of a person’s shoe tips essentially showed how wealthy they were. Essentially, the shoes were a status symbol for the rich, just like private jets, yachts, and expensive watches are today.Ī 1447 painting featuring nobles wearing poulaines. ![]() However, shoes with the extra-long tips were usually relegated to the wealthiest people who could afford to walk around in such impractical footwear, according to Atlas Obscura. They often featured decorative elements and embossing and were typically made of leather, but other materials were also used in their construction. They were commonly stuffed with moss and other types of filling to keep their shape, so they didn’t flop around, reports The Met. Named after the Polish city of Kraków (Cracow), the shoes were worn by anyone in Europe who could afford them. But why were they such a fashionable item for nearly 150 years during the 14th and 15th centuries? The shoes featured long, skinny points that extended outwards from the toes, and the points could be as long as four to 20 inches, according to Shoe IQ. Crakows, also known as the poulaine, were a popular style of pointed and elongated shoes favored by nobility during the medieval period. ![]()
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