"Where feet grow?" Or five fascinating stories that are behind the modern fashion traditions

Have you ever noticed that the buttons of his shirt for men and women are on opposite sides? Somebody once wondered why men stopped wearing shoes with heels? Many mods probably know the answers to these questions, well, for us, the ordinary citizens, we have prepared this post, from which you will learn exactly what linked these or other fashion trends.

1. Why do women shave their legs?

But really, why? Take, for example, the ancient times. Then generally no one thought much about their "hairy". All was well and so. With the advent of Elizabeth I of fashion began to change, and many women have been actively to shave off his eyebrows and in principle entirely get rid of unwanted facial hair. It was believed that a "clean" person is much more beautiful and refined.

For ladies legs crossed in the period of the Second World War, and now we'll show you why it happened. During the military operations in the United States was a great shortage of nylon stockings, as the government began to use nylon for sewing parachutes. For women, a lack of nylon stocking meant that it is now necessary to bare feet. So as not to show their, shall we say, not very smooth feet, women are actively using the machine, and after the war, when the skirts are even shorter than they were before, shaving legs firmly rooted among women.

2. Why are men no longer wear shoes with heels?

We all know that high heels are exclusively women. But a few centuries ago heeled shoes has been in use in men. Elizabeth Zemmelhak from Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, says, "Shoes with high heels worn for centuries in the Middle East as a shoe for riding a horse. When the soldiers got into the saddle and vdeval foot in the stirrup, the heel allows to fix the foot, and the man could feel more confident in the saddle during the archery. " In the 15th century, European aristocrats wore shoes with heels, to show all his wealth and power. What a kind of symbol of the fact that you are from the high society. By Elizabeth Zemmelhak said upper-class gentlemen always use impractical clothes to demonstrate their privileged status. During the Enlightenment, the men realized the impracticality of the entire shoe and abandoned it.

3. Why do we paint your nails?

If you thought that the manicure and nail painting came into use not so long ago, you are deeply mistaken in this regard. Did you know that the old manicure set made of solid gold and dating from 3200 BC, recently turned over 5,000 years? It is known that the ancient Babylonians, who created this set, loved to take care of their nails.

The elite of the Ming Dynasty in China has been ardent admirers painted nails, using a mixture of egg whites, gelatin and gum for painting his nail plate in raspberry or black color. In England, Elizabeth I, a fashion icon of that time, was widely known, thanks to his manicure and a well-kept hands and nails. Susan Shapiro, a researcher at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, says that long nails were impractical for the hard work, so they had only the cream of society at that time.

Shapiro also said that over time, manicure species changed. For example, for 20-30-ies, most women prefer the French manicure, and by 1960, many have used natural and pale colors for nail painting.

4. Why do we wear the wedding ring on the ring finger?

This tradition can be traced from ancient times in Rome. The Romans thought that comes from the heart of Vienna, which is suitable to the ring finger. They called it "vena amoris", which literally means "Vienna Love". That is why the wedding ring is usually worn on this finger. Very romantic! By the way, modern science has proven that all the fingers are connected with our heart veins.

5. Why do women shave their armpits?

Both men and women do not shave their armpits for millennia. So why about 95 percent of the women began to actively get rid of unwanted hair in this area? All this happened due to the advertisement in Harper's Bazaar magazine in 1915 year. Until that time, women with unshaven armpits were quite a norm, but one article that was posted in the journal demonstrates that dress with very short sleeves, worn by women and unshaven armpits spoil the whole look.

The article was also a photograph that depicts a woman in a sleeveless dress with raised hands and unshaven armpits. Within a few years shaving armpits actively entered the woman's life, but the natural hair in this place began to sicken.