Shoes - tailor made for describing character

Do you know when shoemakers decided it might be a nice idea to make a shoe to fit the right foot and a match it with a shoe on the left foot?  Do you know when men's shoes and women's shoes began to differ from one another in style, colour and toe-shape? Do you know when the heel of a man's shoe standardised at one inch or 2.5 cm?

S hoes have been around for around 40,000 years, and yet they go unremarked on in many books - at least, that is, books read by this blogger! This is both a shame and a wasted opportunity for the storyteller because footwear, or the lack of it, can reveal a good deal about an individual's personality. However, be aware that the connection between shoe and personality is not always the obvious one. For example, in 2020, the sneaker industry dominates the global shoe market and sneakers account for over half of that market. It's an astonishing number, but I would suggest that the market size does not necessarily mean that wearers of sports shoes are sporty people! So - why do we wear them? I'll leave you, the reader, to answer that one.  

Using shoes as a reflection of fictional personality is not something I have tried but I am going to change things in my next book. For example, you may not be able to judge a character by looking at their shoes but you can, as a writer, show and not tell and suggest the character of an individual.

What sort of person might wear the following types of shoes, for example. 

1.    Clearly expensive shoes
2.    Flashy, sparkling shoes
3.    Practical shoes
4.    Old but well-kept shoes
5.    Shabby shoes
6.    Ankle boots (women)
7.    Impractical and uncomfortable-looking shoes
8.    New shoes

Your opinions will, of course, differ. Here are my answers.

1.     High income earner
2.     An extrovert
3.     An agreeable and open person
4.     A conscientious individual
5.     A liberal or free thinker
6.     Am aggressive individual
7.     A calm person
8.     Someone with attachment anxiety.

And what might a handkerchief, carefully folded into the top pocket of a jacket, matched with a pair of unkempt shoes tell you (if anything) about the personality of the wearer? Essentially, the shoes an individual wears can say a great deal about the his/her personality so don't sneer at the down-at-heel. Use shoes to show and not tell us about your character's personality and, perhaps, his or her contradictions. Oh, and by the way, the answers to the questions in the first paragraph are: 

Shoemakers began to make a left shoe and a matching right shoe towards the end of the Victorian era.

In the early 1800s men's shoes and women's shoes began to differ significantly and the heel size of a man's shoes settled at one inch.