Miniature by Loyset Liédet in Regnault de Montauban, t. II, fol. 148r (Photo: Loyset Liédet via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
In a world driven by efficiency and optimization, how often do we hear “fashion over function” nowadays, instead of the other way around? Such was the case in the Middle Ages, where trends dominated, especially amongst the nobility and the upper crust. An extremely long and pointy–not to mention uncomfortable–shoe called the poulaine falls into this category, showing us that the trend cycle is nothing new, if not less uncomfortable today.
The poulaine shoe is believed to have Polish origins. The term itself points this out, as it derives from the Middle French phrase “souliers à la poulaine,” or “shoes in the Polish fashion.” Worn by men and women alike, the shoe ended in a ridiculously long toe. Men’s poulaines would typically have a longer point than their female counterparts, with some even reaching five inches. To keep the toe’s shape, they “were typically stuffed with moss, wool or horsehair,” writes Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica.
Poulaines hit their peak in popularity between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, right around Richard II’s marriage to Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The fact that the trendy shoe made an impact on the Middle Ages cannot be understated. But these impacts weren’t necessarily all great.
As can be imagined with such an extreme and uncomfortable shoe, poulaine-wearers suffered for their fashion in more ways than one. A 2021 study revealed an increase in foot disorders around the same time that these pointy shoes were en vogue. Researchers at Cambridge found a higher number of signs of bunions in the remains of 14th- and 15th-century individuals compared to those from the 11th and 13th centuries. When it comes to Middle Age fashions, beauty really is pain, apparently.
The trendy shoe was also controversial. Religious leaders and clergy railed against the poulaine, calling it “lascivious” and the cause of disasters like plague. Pope Urban V even banned the pointed shoe in 1362, but the proclamation fell on deaf ears. The London Museum maintains that after the Great Pestilence of 1348, “clerics claimed the plague was sent by God to punish Londoners for their sins, especially sexual sins.”
A similar reaction was recorded with an earlier version of pointed shoes from a few centuries prior, called the pigache. Though nowhere near as extreme as poulaines, it was also criticized for its connections to sexual deviancy, effeminacy, and vanity. It would seem that pointy shoes and religion did not mix well in the Middle Ages.
Just like with trend cycles of today, poulaines became oversaturated in medieval Europe, which was problematic when they were initially worn by elites to connote a certain status. The result? Sumptuary laws, which regulated the toe length of the poulaine to distinguish between nobility and commoners. Between long pointy shoes sure to cause bunions and the so-called “quiet luxury” that’s on trend today, Western fashion has come a long way without seeming to change much at its very core.
The poulaine was an uncomfortable and ridiculously pointed shoe that was popular among Western European nobility in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Believed to have originated in Poland, the style involved an extremely long toe protruding where a shoe typically ends, with some toes extending as much as five inches.
Detail of footwear from wall paintings in Westminster Cathedral, London, England. (Photo: Unknown, book by James Robinson Planché via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Researchers at Cambridge University found a significant increase in foot disorder indicators from remains dated to the 14th- and 15th-centuries, compared to their earlier counterparts.
Poulaines were as controversial as they were uncomfortable, with religious and state leaders attempting to ban or regulate the fashion multiple times. The medieval trend cycle prevailed, however, and the pointy shoes did not go out of style until well into the 15th century.
Sources: Medieval people suffered for fashion with their extremely pointy shoes; Pointy shoes & sexuality in medieval London; Fancy shoes and painful feet: Hallux valgus and fracture risk in medieval Cambridge, England
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