Ten Shoes

choi

阿拉斯戴尔苏珂 Alastair Sooke, 图辑：改变世界的十双鞋. BBC, June 26, 2015
www.bbc.com/ukchina/simp/vert_cu ... t_changed_the_world

, which is translated from

Alastair Sooke, Ten Shoes That Changed the World. BBC, June 18, 2015.
www.bbc.com/culture/story/201506 ... t-changed-the-world

Note:
(a) "Gold Sandal[:] * * * As a result, this elfin piece of footwear belongs at the beginning of a long tradition of shoes distorting our feet for one reason or another."

elfin (adj): "small, delicate, and charming"
www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/elfin

(b) "Gold Mojari (1790-1820)[:] This sumptuous pair of men’s 'mojari' (mules), which were most likely made in Hyderabad in India, makes the gilded sandals from ancient Egypt look positively ordinary. The leather uppers have been entirely covered with gold embroidery, while the throats are decorated with gold designs embellished with precious gems including diamonds, emeralds and rubies. The quality of the construction is so high that they may once have belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad – though it also appears that they were never worn."
(i) mojari
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojari
(mostly using vegetable-tanned leather; "In ancient times these were worn by multitude and royalty. As it evolved through the centuries and is being produced by individual artisans, products vary in designs and colours"/ Mojari is referred to a man's closed shoe with an extended curled toe, while as juttis have flat fronts)
(ii) mule (shoe)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_(shoe)
(a [Middle, not Modern] French word)
(iii) Hyderabad
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad
("it [city] has a population of about 6.8 million * * * making it the fourth most populous city"/ Established in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah; section 1.1 Toponymy)
(iv) Nizam of Hyderabad
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizam_of_Hyderabad
(was a monarch of the [historic] Hyderabad State; Nizam, shortened from Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaning Administrator of the Realm)

(c) "Poulaine (1375-1400)[:] * * * A craze for shoes like this, which to modern eyes look like precursors of the winkle-picker, swept the continent in the late 14th Century, when they acquired various names, including 'crackows' (from Krakow) and 'poulaines' ([the feminine form of Middle] French for 'Polish')."
(i) winklepicker
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winklepicker
(ii) Kraków
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w
(sec 1 Etymology)

(d) "Pair of Geta (1880-1900)[:] Shoes are an essential weapon in the armoury of seduction and desire. The prostitute in Manet’s scandalous oil painting Olympia (1863), for instance, is naked except for a black ribbon around her neck and one high-heeled mule on her left foot (the other mule has already provocatively slipped off). In feudal Japan, high-status courtesans called 'oiran' wore traditional 'geta' like this vertiginous velvet-and-lacquer pair, more than 20cm (7.9in) high"
(i) Japanese English dictionary
* geta 下駄 【げた】 (n): "geta; Japanese wooden clogs"
* oiran 花魁; 華魁 【おいらん】 (n): "(arch[aic]) courtesan; prostitute; oiran"
* orera/ oira 俺ら; 俺等; 己等 【おれら; おいら】 (pn [for 'pronoun']): "(1) (おれら [orera] only) we; us; (2) (esp. おいら [oira]) I; me"
(ii) oira
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiran
(section 1 Etymology: The word oiran comes from the Japanese phrase oira no tokoro no nēsan (おいらの所の姉さん) which translates into "my elder sister")
(iii) Olympia (Manet)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_(Manet)