FASHION : Elevating the Platform Story

Designers are choosing platforms as the footnote to today’s 1940s remakes like long, slim skirts with cinched jackets, cashmere twin sets and seamed stockings.

But it all started in early Chinese dynasties, when royalty chose the lofty footwear to guard against mud, says Robert Hoskins, professor at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

In the 1940s, platforms were popularized by singing and dancing Brazilian firecracker Carmen Miranda.

They were born out of necessity during a wartime era when leather was scarce and was replaced by cork and wood soles with fabric uppers.

In the 1960s, Yves Saint Laurent revived platforms, which became so popular that by the mid-’70s they were a mod mainstay even among men.

Exuberantly funky with flared heels up to 7 inches high, they looked just right with polyester elephant bells and spandex leisure suits.

The most legendary pair had glass heels filled with water and live goldfish.

British designer Vivienne Westwood got a start on the revival at her fall ’91 show, when she sent campy-looking mannequins in tight skirts down the runway teetering on 4-inch platforms.