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United Kingdom - Man's leather
"Poulaine" with wooden patten - 14th Century
During the High Middle Ages, men began to wear long toed shoes called
poulaines, pigaches of crackowes. Young men stuffed wool, horsehair
or moss into the toe extensions to keep them erect. A popular vulgarity
was to paint the upturned pikes flesh coloured and to allow them
to flap with lifelike mobility. Blatantly phallic and sometimes
so long that attachments with a chain to the knee were needed to
prevent tripping. Small bells were often attached to the tip, indicating
that the wearer was a willing partner for a sexual frolic. Youth
wer chas-tised for standing on the street corners waggling their
toe suggestively as the young ladies walked by. |
Research and text by : W.A.H.M. Habraken-Oosterhout-Holland