Women’s renaissance shoes are becoming more and more popular due to our involvement with historical reenactment and renaissance festivals. Historical costumes aren’t complete unless the shoes that accompany them at least resemble and ideal of the renaissance era. Happily, with reenactments and festivals on the rise, so are costume pieces.

Formerly, it was rare to find renaissance shoes for women or men outside of an actual reenactment marketplace (think shop tents at an SCA event) or in a shop at a renaissance faire. With the advent of the internet, more people have access to learn how to make renaissance shoes and those who already made rennaissance shoes could now display their wares online. Many still do not take online ordering or payments, but many more do, and those who do not still give you all the information that you need for choosing the ideal rennaisance shoes before placing an order over the phone.

During that period, the most popular ladies renaissance shoes were slippers and poulaines. Both had a fairly thin sole, were mainly for show, and some could be quite awkward. The poulaines are the “pointy toe” shoes that we often make fun of- either the toe is long enough to be a hazard, or it was curled up similar to what we now call “jester shoes”. Or worse, the longer the toe, the more fashionable you were- so many wore toes so long that they had to be tied or chained to the knees! Divit toed shoes are generally considered to fit into both medieval and renaissance reenactments and festivals, and so they’re also a good choice. Mary Janes and Chinese flats as well as ballet flats are not strictly period, but if the requirements are not too strict with your reenactment group, they’re a good, cheap alternative until you find that perfect pair of renaissance shoes and boots.

Because womens renaissance shoes were form over function, they were more or less useless in the muck and filth of the city- especially when the roads were wet. To compensate for this, ladies would tie pattens to their feet- block of wood about an inch think to protect their shoes. Today we would call these clogs, but they weren’t often shaped like our modern notion of clogs.

Many women opt to wear men’s renaissance shoes as well, however, because the boots and shoes that are designed by our modern cobblers are often just as attractive from one gender to the other, and since many will custom size their wares, the gender that the shoes or boots were actually designed for doesn’t really apply.

Reenactment shoe patterns are available for anyone who is interested in thoroughly period shoes, since the patterns tend to be better documented than ready made shoes are. However, if you’re interested in having historically accurate shoes and don’t want to make them yourself, and studying period paintings and illustrations is too time consuming, then look for a vendor who describes either his/her documentation, or states where the style comes from. Such as “inspired by 14th century anglo-saxon boots” or “based on a painting of such and such member of Queen Elizabeth I’s court”. While this doesn’t guarantee strict adherence to historical accuracy, it is still a good guide to buying women’s renaissance shoes.