Mule, a French word, is a style of shoe that is backless and often closed-toed. Mules can be any heel height - from flat to high. The style is predominantly (but not exclusively) worn by women.
The term derives from the Ancient Roman mulleus calceus a red or purple shoe worn by the three highest magistrates,[1] although there is little indication of any structural resemblance.
High-heeled mules were a popular indoor shoe style of the 18th century, influenced by the patten, a backless overshoe of the 16th century. By the early twentieth century, mules were often associated with prostitutes.[2]
In the early 1950s, Marilyn Monroe popularized the shoe[1] and helped to break its poor reputation.
Mules experienced some popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s, and were seen in 1970s almost exclusively in the form of open-back Scandinavian clogs, but then re-emerged in the early 1990s, especially in its open-toed form (the "slide"), and began to dominate the shoe market for women.
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