How pointy shoes created a moral panic in medieval London
Shoes seen as demonic and vain were blamed for making men "effeminate" and bringing the plague to London.
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The long point was seen as phallic, and the cut around the ankle was saucily low, elongating the leg and displaying the talus bone, often clad in colourful hose to turn the heads of admirers.
According to the London Museum, young men would "stand on street corners wiggling their shoes suggestively" at people walking by.
If that shoe-wiggler had bells sewn to the ends of the points, it indicated that the wearer was available for sexual frolics.
