High heels have become a going out necessity for many women (especially those of us on the shorter side), but did you know they were originally designed for men?

　　高跟鞋已经成为女性出门必备的东西了(尤其是那些对身高不太满意的女性来说)，但是你知道高跟鞋最开始是专门给男人穿的吗?

　　And it may come as a surprise to learn that they weren’t even designed for walking in.

　　还有一件事可能也会让你惊讶——高跟鞋最开始并不是让人穿着走路的!

　　Actually, maybe that’s not so surprising…

　　额，也许这一点不是那么让人惊讶…

　　Heels were originally designed as riding shoes, worn by men in the near east for centuries.

　　高跟鞋最开始是给男人骑马用的，这一习俗在近东地区流行了好几个世纪。

　　And women only started wearing them to look more androgynous.

　　而女性最初穿高跟鞋的目的只是为了看起来更中性。

　　According to the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, which currently has an exhibition on men’s shoes, heels were first worn by Persian horsemen in order to help them secure their stance in stirrups.

　　据多伦多的“巴塔鞋类博物馆”(该博物馆目前正在举办一场男性鞋展)表示，第一次穿高跟鞋的是波斯骑兵，目的是为了箍住马镫。

　　At the end of the 16th century, Persian culture sparked a number of new fashion trends across Europe – including the heel, which was seen as virile and masculine.

　　16世纪末，波斯文化引发了欧洲许多新的流行趋势——其中就包括了高跟鞋，当时人们认为高跟鞋能体现男人阳刚气概。

　　In the 17th century, heels were particularly popular with the slightly height-challenged French king, Louis XIV.

　　17世纪的时候，法国国王路易十四特别喜欢高跟鞋——他的身高有点问题。

　　At just 5’4″, heels gave him an edge.

　　路易十四只有5英尺4英寸高，因此高跟鞋让他得以“高人一等”。

　　The heels and soles of his shoes were always red – dyed with an expensive pigment that signified wealth and status.

　　路易十四高跟鞋的后跟和鞋底总是红色——他用这种昂贵的颜料来显示自己的财富和地位。

　　To make the shoes even more special, in the 1670s Louis XIV ruled that only members of his court were allowed to wear shoes with red heels.

　　为了让自己的鞋子更加特别，17世纪70年代路易十四宣布，只有王室成员才能穿红色鞋跟的鞋子。

　　Around the 1630s, women started cutting their hair, smoking pipes and wearing heels to adopt fashionable masculine styles.

　　17世纪30年代左右，妇女为了赶上当时阳刚风这一时髦，开始留短发、抽烟斗、穿高跟鞋。

　　Heels were more or less unisex until the end of the 17th century, when men’s heels became lower and more robust – and women’s became more slender.

　　在17世纪末之前高跟鞋不分男女，但是在此之后男人的鞋跟开始变得又矮又粗，女人的鞋跟则变得又高又细。

　　With the Enlightenment, around the beginning of the 18th century, came more of a focus on practicality rather than status in men’s fashion. By 1740, heels were seen as foolish – and men had stopped wearing them.

　　在大约18世纪初的时候，启蒙运动引导人们更多关注鞋子的实用性，而不是男人的时尚。等到1740年，高跟鞋已经被认为是愚蠢的东西了——男人们已经不再穿高跟鞋了。

　　And after the French revolution, 50 years later, women stopped wearing them too.

　　而法国大革命50年之后，女人们也不穿高跟鞋了。

　　It was only in the mid-19th century that they came back into fashion – and were featured in erotic photographs of women taken by French pornographers.

　　直到19世纪中期，高跟鞋才重新回到了时尚界——当时法国色情作品作者将高跟鞋作为女性色情图片中的道具。

　　Some reckon this is why heels are now considered so sexy.

　　有些人认为，这就是为什么现在高跟鞋被认为如此性感的原因。

（编辑：何莹莹）