The designer André Courrèges is widely credited with creating the first ever Gogo boots. It was a low-heeled, calf-high boot created for his 1964 Autumn collection as part of the ‘Moon Girl’ look. These boots quickly became popular, and were soon mass-produced, and became a huge hit with girls dressed in the ‘Dolly Bird’ style in 1960s London. They were usually designed with a zipper up the back, or on the side, and were adopted by teenagers, which saw them worn by dancers on television shows, helping to further popularise them.

This popularity soon saw them become iconic. For example, the boots in Nancy Sinatra song ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’ are widely recognised to be Gogo boots. The boots became a part of pop culture when they were worn by Jane Fonda in the cult sci-fi film Barbarella. Such success saw other designers have a go at making their own version of the boots, with the height of the boot rising as the hemlines became higher and higher, ending as Yves Saint Laurent’s garter boot. These were what led to ‘kinky boots’, calf high boots created with a pointed heel, and were worn by Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman in the classic TV series The Avengers.

Nowadays, the Gogo boot has become a huge part of fashion worldwide, so it is important to move away from stereotyping it as a slutty item of footwear. It is one of the most revolutionary items of fashion wear to emerge from the sixties, and a key part of any woman’s wardrobe.