Update the Look: The World’s First Shoe

PHOTO BY BORIS GASPARIAN
COURTESY INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRPHY

It turns out the birthplace of fashion was not in Paris via Coco Chanel, but instead the Areni-1 cave of Armenia where the world’s oldest shoe was just discovered. The 5,500 sandal, a well persevered–if not luxurious–leather lace-up, would fit in with a lot of the gladiator-inspired footwear on Manhattan’s summer streets. Hailing from the Chalcolithic period or Copper age, the size seven accessory was an incredible innovation of the time that possibly predates the era’s other notable invention—the wheel. However, fashion wise the birth of footwear (and thus accessories) cannot be overstated. Where would Louis XIV be without his jaunty heels in Versailles? What would George W. Bush have dodged if not a pair of loafers? While fashion and trends are constantly changing from kitten heel to platforms, it’s reassuring to see that the oldest shoe ever found is on trend.  It would be legitimately timeless piece of clothing, if they could only find the left one…

Assuming they never do, there’s a great alternative in the bone-heeled DSquared update. It might retail for $1225, but that’s still a good deal compared to priceless.