Poulaines didn’t just irk the church; they drew the ire of King Charles V of France, who banned their construction in Paris, and Edward IV of England, who first outlawed the shoe toes from being ...

In England, the likely culprits were poulaines, shoes with a narrow toe that could run two to a dozen or more inches long, like the bill of a marlin or something the Wicked Witch of the West might ...

Fashionable pointy-toed shoes called poulaines were alleged to promote sexual deviancy and, as a resulting sanction from God, were blamed for bringing about the plague.

Discourse surrounding poulaines reached such heights that in 1463, England’s Edward IV passed sumptuary laws in London that limited toe length to a mere two inches, per Atlas Obscura.

Known as poulaines, pointy leather shoes were the height of fashion in 14th century Britain. Medieval men and women about town, however, paid a high price for their fancy footwear: They got bunions.

They are also called pikes or poulaines (which can also refer just to the long pointed toe instead of the entire shoe). They came into fashion around 1382, when Richard II married Anne of Bohemia .

Fashionable pointy-toed shoes called poulaines were alleged to promote sexual deviancy and, as a resulting sanction from God, were blamed for bringing about the plague.

Known as poulaines, pointy leather shoes were the height of fashion in 14th century Britain. Medieval men and women about town, however, paid a high price for their fancy footwear: They got bunions.

Fashionable pointy-toed shoes called poulaines were alleged to promote sexual deviancy and, as a resulting sanction from God, were blamed for bringing about the plague.