Nothing says “walking tall” like the obscenely-elevated soles of the platform shoe. As any survivor of the disco era can attest, ones stature in the fashion world was measured in part by the amazing heights that became achievable in these stylish stilts. But the platform shoe has a history that dates much farther back than the Bee Gees. To get to the origins, one must travel in the wayback machine all the way to the 15th century.

Venetian aristocrats of the 1400s preferred to call them “chopines” – an overshoe of sorts that consisted of a tall block of wood attached to the bottoms of ladies shoes to help protect them from the mud along cobblestone streets, sometimes achieving heights of two feet! Often ladies had to be accompanied by escorts to ensure they could safely walk in them without taking a towering tumble.

Flash forward five hundred years and the platform shoe made a comeback in the 1930s. Made of either wood or cork, the heights attained by Venetian royalty of centuries past was scaled back to an altitude far less likely to result in a nosebleed. The lightweight property of cork made the shoes popular among beachgoers and by the 40s, ankle-strap platform was a perfect match for the rising hemlines of the day. In the 50s, shoe styles had come back down to earth with the flat-soled ballet slipper but in the decades that followed, the soles would once again rise like a mercury thermometer on an August day.

The staggering heights achieved in the 70s are the stuff of legend. The Pinball Wizard, Elton John, rose to the occasion with a colorful, often wacky, assortment of platform shoes. The rock band, Kiss, paraded around in elevated boots that darn-near required them to wear oxygen masks. And when John Travolta took to the dance floor in his white suit, pompadour and platform shoes, he mirrored the ascent of disco music, for better or worse. Feet would come back to Earth in the 80s, as heights became more conservative, but not for long. The 90s ushered in a resurgence of platform popularity, not only thanks to the disco revival but also in the rave scene. Even the Spice Girls got in on the act and started heading back towards the shoe stratosphere.

The popularity of the platform shoe may rise and fall as the decades pass, but the temptation to tower above the crowd will likely persist. A word of caution to the uninitiated though – a strong sense of balance is of the utmost importance. For girls that are unaccustomed to the acrobatics required for high heels, danger lurks. Falling from your perch is never fashionable and being careful to acquire the walking skills necessary to master the platform shoe is a must if you want to avoid a trip to the emergency room.