I came across this article from RealSimple about quirky facts about shoes, bras, earrings – basically the everyday items women use and how really they were introduced to our world of style.

*****Here’s a snippet.
So, how did the trend for pointed-toe shoes start?
Manolo who? Long before they ever made an appearance on the TV show “Sex and the City,” pointed shoes were favored by Polish nobles, who introduced the fashion to England on a diplomatic visit in the 1300s.
The shoes, dubbed “crackowes” or “poulaines” — after Kraków, Poland — were so long that a chain running from the toe to the knee was often required to keep them from dragging.
Read more…http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/homestyle/10/12/rs.fashion.truths/index.html