In a recent Instagram post, actress Anna Kendrick posed the question: “I mean, is it wrong to love yourself while wearing stripper heels? Is it a crime?” I was pleasantly surprised to see the comment section filled with people asking Kendrick to remove the caption due its harmful implication that being a stripper means you inherently don’t love yourself. But to my confusion, upon viewing the image posted alongside this harmful caption, there wasn’t a stripper heel in sight! Which leads me to wonder, do civilian women even know what stripper heels are, and the importance they have to us strippers? Understandably most wouldn’t, it doesn’t impact them in the slightest to have this knowledge. But as a stripper, I am getting tired of the way civilians will shame strippers, but also parade about in our heels. Let’s take a strip through time and learn about the history of stripper heels!
What Are Stripper Heels?
Before we dive in, let’s first define stripper heels. Prior to becoming a stripper myself, any time I visited the strip club as a customer I was always enthralled and mesmerised by their colourful platform heels. I asked a dancer where they got their shoes, to which she replied “They’re called pleaser heels. No stripper would be caught without a pair!” And a few months later, I was a baby stripper purchasing my first pair. It was an exciting moment that felt like an important milestone in my stripping career. Whenever I put my pleaser heels on for a shift, it feels like a ritual: I’m literally stepping into my stripper persona.
Not only are pleasers aesthetically pleasing to look at, but their design serves a practical purpose: the material offers decent grip which assists us when climbing poles, the soles are padded for our comfort - we are dancing and standing for anywhere between 8-15 hour shifts, the platform works as extensions of the body, adding height and providing the illusion of long legs, and the high heel makes our booties look toned and peachy!
Ancient Platform Shoes
The concept of shoes that elevated one's height can be traced back to the cothurnus shoe of Ancient Greece. An evolution of Ancient Egyptian footwear, the cothurnus was created out of a thin layer of leather that was attached to a sole made out of cork. The cothurnus were commonly worn by actors of Ancient Greek theatre. Hidden beneath robes, they gave actors the illusion of varying heights in order to signify to the audience the importance of a character. The taller the character, the more important they were to the narrative.
Another iteration of platform shoes can be traced back to China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Japan from the Muromachi Period to the Edo period. Men working in rice fields wore geta to ensure they would not sink into the mud. These shoes were also worn by yujo (Japanese sex workers) working in Yūkaku, the legal red light districts in Edo Japan. This was to protect the hemline of their Kimonos from being torn or dirtied by the ground. Geishas, who were trained in classical art and entertainment, wore geta while they danced and entertained their clients. Oirans, Japanese highest-ranking courtesans, wore getas as high as 12 inches. And here I am stumbling in 9-inch pleasers!
A similar style of shoe to the geta can be seen in 15th-17th century Spain, Venice and Turkey called the chopine. Due to whorephobia, classism and white supremacy: stripper heels are often considered “trashy” “low class” and a signifier that one does not love themselves. But the chopine shoe that stripper heels have evolved from was once a symbol of high status and class in 15th-17th century Venice. Like the cothurnus, geta and pleaser heels; the chopine elevated the wearer's height. And like the geta of Ancient Japan and China, this ensured skirts would not risk being torn and dirtied, which was a sign of being a peasant or worker, rather than a clean, privileged aristocrat. According to Shoes: A Brief History by Lucy Johnson and Linda Woolley, “It (the chopine) probably originated in Venice and was first worn by prostitutes, but was then adopted by fashionable Venetian aristocrats. The style derived from the Turkish bath shoe which kept the feet of the wearer out of the water.”
Old Hollywood, 70’s Disco and Pop Culture
History has a way of repeating itself. While the Ancient Greeks used platform heels in their visual storytelling, so did Old Hollywood cinema. As a form of escapism from the depressing realities of a post war society, films during the 1930’s were a spectacle for cinema goers, and costumes added to the visual aesthetic of old Hollywood cinema. In 1938, Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo created a pair of rainbow platform shoes for actress Judy Garland as a reference to the song Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, which starred Garland as Dorothy. And like the Ancient Greeks, Ferragamo used corks in his designs. This was largely due to how cost effective using cork was, as the financial crisis of this time caused restrictions on fashion. Platform heels were much more comfortable than other high heel designs, and this was a great feature for cinematic actresses of the time, who often had extravagant dance numbers for their on-screen appearances. The platform heel was worn by iconic actresses of this era including “the Brazilian Bombshell” Carmen Miranda, Rita Hayworth and Mae West.
During the 1970's in America; LGBTQ, Black and Latino communities were especially excluded from mainstream spaces. Urban nightclubs provided a safe space to celebrate the things’ marginalised communities were shunned for. As a result, these communities had a place to show up as their authentic selves, and this was often expressed through their flamboyant outfits and shoes. Platforms became a staple of 70’s Disco culture, and I imagine boots were ideal for avoiding the risk of having your toes stamped on while boogying the night away. Platform boots of this time were tall, colourful and often covered in glitter in order to reflect the disco lights.
Glam rock stars of this period such as David Bowie were heavily involved and inspired by Urban nightlife and disco fashion, bringing platform boots and heels to mainstream audiences. And this trend would continue all the way to the 90’s, with the rise of the Spice Girls. Google them in their golden days and you will be bombarded with images of them wearing platform boots and heels. The 70’s and 90’s platforms most closely resemble the modern pleaser heel that have become synonymous with strippers, and the early 90’s was when Pleaser Shoe was founded by Ben Hsu. To this day, Pleaser Shoes is the major distributor of stripper heels/boots, gothic Demonia and retro Bordello. These styles of shoe are extremely popular amongst strippers, pinup/fetish models, burlesque and drag performers all over the globe. And in recent years, stripper owned and operated companies such as Hella Heels have started to distribute their own range of stripper shoes made by strippers, for strippers.
These Boots Are Made for Stripping
Stripper shoes have a beautiful history that have been shaped by historical sex workers Black, Latino and the Queeer (LGBTQAI+) communities. I wear my stripper shoes with pride, and I love myself both in and out of my stripper heels!
Citation:
"Chopines." Fashion History Timeline (2019) fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/chopines/
“Shoes: A Brief History” (2017) Lucy Johnson and Linda Woolley
“Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More” (1996) Linda O'Keeffe
"Ben Hsu of Pleaser USA." The Storeotica Interview, (2010) Kylie Matthews www.pleaserusa.com/imgpress/Storerotica_pic_201008.pdf.
"Oiran (花魁) - The Top Prostitutes in Japan: The Reason Why Oiran Were So Popular." (2022) Meshida www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6DPkQaSe0
