Women love shoes. But how did we get here? Women From The Ankle Down answers that ques­tion by telling the sto­ry of shoes in the Twen­ti­eth Cen­tu­ry. Part social his­to­ry, part fash­ion his­to­ry and part pop-cul­ture cel­e­bra­tion, this book opens in the rur­al vil­lage of Boni­to, Italy where a young Sal­va­tore Fer­rag­amo set out to change the land­scape for footwear, and ends in New York City, where a fic­tion­al socialite named Car­rie Brad­shaw refused to set­tle for Mr. Wrong and felt enti­tled to treat her­self to expen­sive shoes. It makes pit-stops in Hol­ly­wood, where Judy Gar­land first slipped on her ruby slip­pers; in New Jer­sey, where Nan­cy Sina­tra heard some­thing spe­cial in a song about boots; and in the streets of Man­hat­tan, where the 1980 tran­sit strike caused women to kick off their heels and step into new cut­ting-edge ath­let­ic shoes for their com­mutes. The book explores the sto­ries behind these his­tor­i­cal moments, and draws in the design inno­va­tions and social changes that gave each one its last­ing sig­nif­i­cance and appeal.