By now, we’re all familiar with the Marc Jacobs “inverted heel” pumps, right? Here’s a little visual aid:

Some have already remarked on the quasi-similarity with the work of famous shoe designer Andre Perugia, who was experimenting with heel-less shoes as early as the 1930s. Perugia is a whole fashion chapter in and by himself, and the similarity is definitely there, but we here at Shoeblog believe we’ve found an even uncannier resemblance in these vintage black pumps, ca. 1958-1960 (unlabeled, American or Italian-made):

Turns out that the desire for novelty in women’s shoes gave birth to this particular design concept, a “floating heel,” made with a cantilevered sole and elevated mid-sole cast from one piece of metal sturdy enough to support the wearer’s weight. The patent belonged to Martin Friedmann (1956). Here’s one more example:  

According to Jonathan Waldorf, author of The Seductive Shoe, this was “a short-lived fad” that died ca. 1961.

Well, until Marc Jacobs brought it back in 2008, that is!