^ Perforated leather shoes on carved pine, Venice – c.1600- Victoria and Albert Museum, London (via web)
^^ Via Pinault Collection website
Calcagnetti, chopine o pianelle. Ever heard about them?
It’s in the Venice of the 17th century that borns this little-known but pretty fascinating accessory, ancestor of nowadays wedges and source of inspiration for many brand new design suggestions.
The 17th century, Serenissima’s heyday, brought to the spread for many different objects and trends, most of all in the fashion field.
Although Venice is the most famous calcagnetti’s homeland, it seems that the idea of putting rises under the shoes had come from the East.
Venetian merchants, traveling as far as the coasts of Persia and the Middle East, got in touch with customs and objects that, in Venice, seemed to be quirky and fascinating. Yet in Persia, women wore shoes with little rises to avoid either the robes to crawl to the ground or to protect feet from the road dust.
This trend suddenly hit the Venice merchants, who began to bring into the Serenissima these “elevated slippers”, originally called Chopines.
^ Calcagnetto and its height; engraving of Venetian calcagnetti.
Images via Pinterest - Best Venice Guides
Calcagnetti were very high clogs, usually in leather, but also in cowhide or cork, specially used by noblewomen.
Even if today could be considered as a extravagance, in the 17th century had a specific use: lift the wearer off the ground to avoid the humidity and mud that invaded the calli of Venice. Walking in the city often meant getting one’s clothes and shoes dirty, which is why the calcagnetti were designed, an ingenious invention to keep ones’ clothes clean and dry.
They soon became a symbol of wealth and social status. Upper middle-class women began to wear increasingly higher, decorated and embellished calcagnetti, turning them into true luxury items despite being covered to identify their social status since the greater the height, the greater was the fabric used to cover them.
Some models reached dizzying heights of up to 60 cm. It is said that in order to wear the highest calcagnetti, the ladies needed help, and it wasn’t uncommon to see them walking around with their maids to support them so as not to risk ruinous falls.
It wasn’t rare that in those extravagances some upper-social-class men and rich merchants took part. Though, the real amusement, especially for foreigners, was seeing how Venetian noblewomen walked the streets and bridges by wearing them, paying attention to every step and often giving performances that didn’t go unnoticed.
Wood was the main material for the rise structure, often beech or walnut, two robust and easily worked woods.It was carved and modeled to obtain the desired shape and, once realized the calcagnetto’s body, it was covered with fine leather, such as calfskin or kid leather, and decorated with velvet, silk or embroidery.
An interesting aspect of the calcagnetti production is that many women, as well as the men, were involved in this craft. Artisan women helped to decorate the shoes, weaving intricate patterns and enriching the calcagnetti with precious details, including mother-of-pearl.
Colours and textures had to match the lady’s dress and customisation and special details were often required. They were even decorated with ribbons or embroidery that reflected the family symbols or echoed the decorations themes on the robes.
Even just matching coats and dresses was an exercise in style.
Despite a safety ban in 1430, the custom continued until the 1650s.
Over time, however, Venetian calcagnetti lost their popularity. By the mid-18th century, new European trends meant that these accessories were slowly being abandoned. But their legacy remains: there are numerous types of shoes today that can resemble calcagnetti, an effective example are the iconic Vivienne Westwood's Rocking Horse shoes or super elevated Ghillie that can recall Venetian calcagnetti in both height and visual impact, the shoes featured in Iris Van Herpen's SS-2016, as well as Alexander McQueen's famous Armadillo Boots. These attractively designed shoes require a certain mastery of balance and immediately become a status symbol, drawing attention to the wearer in any context.
^ Vivienne Westwood's super Elevated Ghillie hoes, first seen on Naomi Campbell for Vivienne's Autumn-Winter 1993 'Anglomania' in Paris (via web);
^ Vivienne Westwood's Rocking Horse shoes, via tacchiacavallo.com; a pair of Givenchy shoes (via web);
Single picture: La Dame Bleue by Alexander McQueen, Spring/Summer 2008, via vam.ac.uk;
(gallery) Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen's "Calcagnetti".
But the production that comes closest to the Venetian calcagnetti are certainly the Chopines produced by Alexander McQueen in FW-97 shown in New York for the exhibition "China: Through the Looking Glass" in May 2015.
In short, there are many shoes with unusual designs that take our minds, directly or otherwise, back to Venetian calcagnetti, especially in recent years where it is more and more common to see designs on the catwalk that can amaze us, passing by Rick Owens, Coperni and GCDS that draw us into the unusual and always new method of reworking, and then returning to the classic with Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi and Versace.
Hans Hemmert, Galerie Gebauer - Berlin, 1997 (via web)
Elevated shoes were also proposed in art: in 1997 Hans Hemmert, a Berlin artist, organized a party called Level where all participants had to wear shoe extensions in order to make them all the same height (2 metres), with the aim of bringing everyone to the same visual level so as not to create awe or too sharp contrasts.
The fifty "shoes" were foam blue and ranged in height form 5 cm to 43 cm, leading, once worn, to the dematerialisation of the height disparity in the participants.
While in the Republic of Serenissima the aim was precisely to create a disparity between the wealthy and the popular classes through the often exaggerated height of the calcagnetti, the Berlin artist’s goal was the exact opposite; to create an environment where everyone could look each other in the eye with ease by eliminating awe and contrasts.