Lotus footwear is one of the older types of shoes recorded that were designed specifically for women's use. Now, the production of this footwear nowadays is virtually non-existent and the small number of lotus footwear still around are now conserved in galleries and museums or private collections much like antique items and artifacts. Even though the footwear were manufactured for females of all ages, any single woman these days who is beyond the age of 10 would likely find it not possible to use this footwear. This is because this form of footwear had came from traditional China and was created for girls back when foot binding had been practiced. For those not familiar with the procedure, foot binding literally implies the tight binding of the feet using wraps. The importance of this binding is such that it is practiced by women between the ages of two and five.
The process of foot binding would certainly almost certainly be seen as a brutal act of pride simply because it involved the action of maliciously breaking the arch and toes of each foot prior to being bound. On top of that, this technique was conducted without any form of pain relief. The aim of this foot binding was such that the people at that time believed that slim and tiny feet were regarded as being beautiful along with making the woman's motions more womanly. Many misguided beliefs surround the original source of the process of foot binding and the Lotus shoe. One of the most prominent of these myths centered around the Tenth Century time period, when Royal Prince Li Yu who ruled over the Ten kingdoms. He acquired a concubine in his entourage that had quite petite feet and was an excellent dancer who wore one of the oldest versons of the Lotus footwear.
This foot binding process then started amongst the women of higher classes and royalty to be able to mimic the Prince's concubine. As such, foot binding was strongly connected with wealth and status during that time. The subsequent centuries saw to the commonplace adoption of the practice all the way through China. The foot binding grew to become to ensure that girls that didn't have small feet ended up not really marriage material. At the time, this became the worst probable destiny for a Chinese woman. The process aside nonetheless, the Lotus footwear is really a sight to behold and the modern day world would possibly be taken back from the extensive disability it really inflicts on the feet. Of course, when the foot binding grew to become practiced by everybody, varieties came along. The foot binding was eventually stopped.
At first, this kind of delicately manufactured shoes were created by using cotton and silk materials though there is evidence of variants crafted using other materials such as animal skin. Some other versions typically had distinctive features for example high heels and even bottoms that appear like that of the modern wedge shoes. However, probably the most distinguishing characteristic of the lotus shoe is the elaborate designs and patterns present in all of them. In addition to that, most of these shoes ended up being embroidered with detailed designs featuring animal and also flower styles together with shapes. This is especially if you go through the unusual and expensive footwear created from the best materials that adorned the feet of people in positions of influence.
