Mule (footwear)
Mule shoes are shoes that are backless and almost always closed-toed. They can be any heel height (flat to high). The shoes are almost always worn by females. High heeled mule shoes were a popular indoor shoe in the 18th century. By the early twentieth century, the shoes were very often associated with prostitutes. However, in the early 1950s, Marilyn Monroe popularized the shoes and helped to break their poor reputations. Similar shoes, called slides, were introduced in the early 1990s, except that slides are open-toed versions of mules.
Mule (footwear) Media
- Mulesshoes
Renoir's "Still Life with Mullets", the fish ultimately responsible for the shoes' name
The flying mule from Fragonard's Happy Accidents of the Swing (c. 1768)
18th Century embroidered Mule
18th Century high heel mules of Catherine the Great, 1770s
Mules decorated in the fashion of the 1980s
Mules MET 53.267.17a-b CP4
maroabou mule heel
- British; Mules;
Other websites
Media related to Mule (footwear) at Wikimedia Commons
