Fine dressing could not be suppressed despite ever-renewed sumptuary laws which tried especially and repeatedly to outlaw the pointed shoes.
The author Barbara W. Tuchman in her book "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" discusses the persistence of fashionable dressing in the face of authority. Despite numerous attempts through sumptuary laws aimed at regulating clothing, particularly the prohibition of pointed shoes, people continued to embrace fine attire. Tuchman highlights the resilience of social customs and the human desire for self-expression through clothing.
This defiance against restrictive laws reflects a broader theme in Tuchman's work, illustrating how societal norms often clash with legislative efforts to control personal expression. The pointed shoes, emblematic of fashion at the time, signal a struggle not only over aesthetics but also over individual freedoms, showcasing the tensions within medieval society.
