Stiletto heels are named after daggers because of their needle-like points

Very high heels are often called “killer heels” because of their devastating effect on wearers and admirers alike, but perhaps there is also a nod to the history of the weapon after which stilettos are named.

The stiletto was traditionally a kind of dagger, a small, sharp metal dagger with a needle-like point to be precise. The name “stiletto” (an Italian word) was adopted to refer to heels of a similar kind in the 1950s.

Therefore a stiletto heel may be defined as a thin, high, pointed heel.

The inventor of the stiletto heel is most widely acknowledged to be French designer Roger Vivier, in around the early 1950s. However other designers such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Albanese of Rome and Dal Co’ were all producing stiletto-heeled shoes in Europe in around that time.

Stilettos are of course still wildly popular today, perhaps more than ever. The images in this post are of a contemporary design, the pointed-toe killer pump from Casadei called Blade. This shoe is the modern day killer stiletto with its razor-like heel, crafted from steel in a painstaking process.

The name “Blade” itself is a reference back to the stiletto, therefore reminding us that the heel on these “killer heels” was actually named after the bladed weapon.