Sandals are simple footwear composed of a sole that is held onto the foot by straps. Though the ancient Greeks did not invent the style, they did create many types of leather sandals. By 500 B.C.E. the average Greek citizen could tell much about the people that passed in the street by the style of sandals they wore.
The oldest known sandals were discovered in Fort Rock Cave in the U.S. state of Oregon. They indicate an age of at least 10,000 years.
The ancient Greeks created the baxea, a sandal made of willow leaves, twigs, or fibres worn by comic actors and philosophers. The sole of the latter was sometimes made much thicker than usual by the insertion of slices of cork, so as to add to the stature of the wearer.
The ancient Egyptians wore sandals made of palm-leaves and papyrus.
Two-thousand-year-old fossil sandals show evidence of fibers suggesting that the Romans wore their sandals over socks. That is a funny thought :-)
Let's take a look at some of my favorite sandals for this summer 2011, below their history.
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ancient Egyptian Jimmy Choos ;-) |
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GUCCI Bamboo-detailed rope and leather flat sandals 360 euros |
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ancient Egyptian sandals |
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ALEXANDER McQUEEN Metallic leather flat sandals 408 euros |
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ancient Roman gladiator sandals |
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GUCCI Studded suede sandals 643 euros | | |
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Ancient sandals from Darasuram, India |
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CHLOE Suede wrap sandals 475 euros (my favorites, I want them, I've got to have them!) |
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ancient Egyptian sandals |
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MARNI Tie-detailed leather sandals 300 euros |
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India |
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LD TUTTLE The crop leather sandals 335 euros |
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Sandals of Sisyphus, Delphi, Greece |
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MIU MIU Cutout leather sandals 290 euros |
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Sandalias_Esparto sandals from the 6th or 5th millennium BC found in Spain |
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MARC BY MARC JACOBS Leather sandals 275 euros |