Mule

Style of shoe where the heel is left uncovered, this being its only similarity to a bedroom slipper. Mules have always been decorative footwear: brocade and velvet in the 17^th century, babouche-style in the 18^th, and satin in the 19^th. In the 20^th century they became virtually ubiquitous: high-heeled goddess fashions in the 1950s, ethnic in the 1980s, and in the 1990s, spangled with glass-beads, seed-pearls and sequins. Since summer 2002 they have once again become haute couture.