Platform 6

Although they have been around in one form or another since the 1930s platform shoes reached their zenith (so to speak) during the 1970s. We being, by and not-so-large, a nation of short-arses platform shoes proved very popular in Wales. From Newport to Bangor Welsh dwts were grateful for the extra elevation that these trendy new shoes afforded them. Popularised by outrageous glam rockers on TV the footwear rapidly went mainstream with pairs selling in their thousands on the high street. But according to health experts budding Elton Johns risked swollen knees, arthritis, bad posture, varicose veins, bunions and ingrown toenails. Chiropodists everywhere must have been rubbing their hands together with glee at the prospect of all the extra business heading their way. As I recall, the moral panic even included the lurid urban myth that platform soles caused pregnant women to miscarry. Cardiff HQ for this dangerous footwear was Platform 6 in the Wyndham Arcade which sold nothing but platform shoes and platform boots. The above advert is from 1976.