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
Stiletto heel extremely slender original Italian-style stiletto heels of the late 1950s and very early 1960s were no more than in diameter for much of their length, although the heel sometimes flared out a little at the top-piece (tip). After their demise in the mid-late 1960s, such slender heels were difficult to find until recently due to changes in the way heels were mass-produced. Relatively thin high heels were certainly around in the late 19th century, as numerous fetish drawings attest. Firm photographic evidence exists in the form of photographs of Parisian singer Mistinguett from the 1940s. These shoes were designed by