• Fashion
May 12, 2012 7:30 AM EDT
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The Illustrated History Of The Platform Shoe

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2-TheKabkab

1300s — In the Middle East, wooden stilts were decorated with shell and ivory and worn in public bathhouses to protect against the heated and wet floors. When people walked in them, the platforms made a clapping sound, so they were referred to as "kabkabs."

Illustrations by Isabelle Rancier

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