Mystique Sandals

Who would have thought that a 14-year-old bride wanting to impress her future husband and his subjects would start a fashion trend that has lasted almost 500 years?

The year was 1533, and the diminutive Catherine d'Medici wanted the Duke of Orleans, the future King of France, to be impressed with the young orphan from Florence. To elevate herself in stature, she donned shoes with a five- centimetre heel, said to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Although Catherine's versions were not the first elevated shoes, they were the first in the world to have a heightened heel.