From chopines to stilettos, Louis XIV to Louboutin, Shoes: An Illustrated History is the definitive guide to footwear.

Shoes have always been more than just a practical necessity. They reveal the culture of the times in which they were worn - the sexual morals, the social power play, as well as the endless shifting of fashion. Rebecca Shawcross takes the reader on a fascinating journey - packed with social and historical detail - of making and wearing, of the spectacular and the everyday, of conforming and rebelling.

Lavishly illustrated with a dazzling array of shoes from all over the world, Shoes: An Illustrated History tells the extraordinary story of this ultimate object of desire, from antiquity to the present.