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Mule (footwear)

 
Mule (footwear)

 
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Mule (footwear)
 
 
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A Mule (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word) is a type of shoe
Shoe

A shoe is an item of footwear evolved at first to protect the human foot and later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains more bones than any other single part of the human body, and has human evolution over hundreds of thousands of years in relation to vastly varied terrain and climate....
 that is backless and often closed-toed. They can be any heel height from flat to high. This style of shoe is predominantly worn by women but some styles for men are also available.

The term is generally believed to have been derived from the ancient Roman calceus mulleus, a red shoe worn by senators and other high officials, although there is little indication of any structural resemblance.

High-heeled mules were a popular indoor shoe style of the 18th century, influenced by the patten
Patten (shoe)

Pattens were Clog , overshoes or Sandal , held on the foot by leather or cloth bands, often with a wooden sole or metal device to elevate the foot and increase the wearer's height or aid in walking in mud....
, a backless overshoe of the 16th century.






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18th Century Shoes Mules
A Mule (French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 word) is a type of shoe
Shoe

A shoe is an item of footwear evolved at first to protect the human foot and later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains more bones than any other single part of the human body, and has human evolution over hundreds of thousands of years in relation to vastly varied terrain and climate....
 that is backless and often closed-toed. They can be any heel height from flat to high. This style of shoe is predominantly worn by women but some styles for men are also available.

The term is generally believed to have been derived from the ancient Roman calceus mulleus, a red shoe worn by senators and other high officials, although there is little indication of any structural resemblance.

High-heeled mules were a popular indoor shoe style of the 18th century, influenced by the patten
Patten (shoe)

Pattens were Clog , overshoes or Sandal , held on the foot by leather or cloth bands, often with a wooden sole or metal device to elevate the foot and increase the wearer's height or aid in walking in mud....
, a backless overshoe of the 16th century. By the early twentieth century, mules were often associated with prostitutes.

Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
, among others, in the early 1950s is given credit for moving the mule into outdoor wear and helped to break the shoe's poor reputation. Mules experienced some popularity in the 1950s and early '60s, and were seen in 1970s almost exclusively in the form of open-back Scandinavia
Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
n clogs
Clog (shoe)

The word clog, as applied to footwear, has these meanings:#A type of shoe or sandal made predominantly out of wood.#A type of heavy boot or shoe with leather sides and uppers and typically thick wooden soles....
, but then re-emerged in the early 1990s, especially in its open-toed form (the "slide
Slide (footwear)

Slide is a common term that refers to a shoe that is backless and open-toed, essentially an open-toed mule . Generally, all slides are a type of Sandal ....
"), and has begun to dominate the shoe market for women.

See also