Best Foot Forward for this Footwear Quiz

Answer: little dagger

The Italian stiletto had a strong period of popularity in the 1950s, replacing the chunky styles of the 1940s and complimenting the postwar "New Look" in clothes. Later problems with carpets and flooring in general brought the competition between common sense and fashion into a new arena.

Answer: Oxford

A dictionary definition of an "Oxford shoe" is merely "a low shoe laced over the instep". There is no exact date for its introduction but it developed in popularity during the first two decades of the 20th century. A style of trousers which was very wide at the ankles became fashionable in the 1920s and was known as "Oxford bags".

Answer: Chelsea Boots

The boots had in fact been invented over 125 years earlier. Amongst other things that made them popular again in the 1960s was the fact that the Beatles were sometimes known to wear them.

Answer: The toes of the shoes became a sharp point.

The sharp point was known as the "scorpion's tail". The length of one's toe point became an indicator of one's high status. The King and his court had the shoes with the largest toes. This style wasn't normally worn by women.

Answer: foot bags

The pointed shoe had disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages and was replaced by round and square toe shapes. At first they were a sensible size but gradually became larger and larger until they became "foot bags"

Answer: The 1970s

Garish colours and glitter also made their presence strongly felt by the middle of the 1970s. Some men enjoyed the flamboyance just as much as the women, and quite a few people took their inspiration from the "Glam Rock" pop stars of the day.

Answer: The buckle being used to fasten a shoe.

Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary on the 22nd January, 1660, "This day I began to put on buckles to my shoes." In the 17th century men wore shoes and mules with a square toe, often blocked and domed. Around about the same time women decided that a pointed toe was more elegant.

Answer: The Italian Heel

Again soon after the "Italian" heel fashions for women's shoes began to change. Towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century women's shoes became lower and lower cut, and heels become lower until they disappear altogether for a while.

Answer: caliga

The caliga exposed the toes and had a lattice-patterned upper, front lacing and a heavily nailed sole. The sole consisted of three or four layers of vegetable tanned cattle hide. Other styles included the "calceus" and the "gallica", both with a closed toe - a style more suited to service in northern climates such as in Britain.

Answer: winklepickers

The reference is to the pin needed to extract winkles from their shells in order to eat them. The name, probably first used as a joke, quickly passed into advertising and gained a degree of respectablity as a real term. It is first recorded in the written language in the "Spectator" magazine of 1960.