Stiletto heel Andre Perugia, who began designing shoes in 1906. It seems unlikely that he invented the stiletto, but he is probably the first firmly-documented designer of the high, slim heel. The word stiletto applied to a heel is derived from a knife or dagger stiletto, which is a long, thin blade, to which the heel of the shoe is similar in profile. Its usage in footwear first appeared in print in the "New Statesman" magazine in 1959: "She came ...forward, her walk made lopsided by the absence of one heel of the stilettos". High-heel shoes were worn by men and women
Kitten heel use in getting young girls used to wearing high heels. However, by the early 1960s, they became fashionable for older teenagers and eventually for women of all ages. The demise of the stiletto heel in the late 1960s meant that women could choose between a wider variety of intermediate length heels, which decreased the appeal of the kitten heel. However, the kitten heel reemerged in the 1980s along with wedge heels, and have become once again fashionable since 2003, but are not made in abundance due to the preference for stiletto heels by women during this time period. Kitten heel