Increasing freedom in dress in the 1930s encouraged ingenuity of design. It was late in this decade that wedge heels and platform shoes swept into fashion, popularised by Salvatore Ferragamo. Wedges had already been seen on 1920s rubber bathing shoes and resort sandals but Ferragamo brought this up to date with modernistic designs, "spool" heels and layered cork soles. Ferragamo also designed extraordinary platform-soled sandals inset with mosaics of gilded glass, encrusted with jewels and covered with rainbows of coloured suede, as can be seen on the heel of this patchwork suede shoe. A study of the chronological sequence of his work revealed that he would return again and again to a theme invented earlier, giving it a new twist by combining it with other motifs. Shoes similar to this one can be seen in 'Salvatore Ferragamo: The Art of the Shoe 1927-1960', by Kirsten Aschengreen Piacenti, Valerie D. Mendes and Stefania Ricci. This shoe combines popular Ferragamo motifs of the late 1930s such as strips of coloured suede with the patchwork of stitched suede, a motif of the later 1940s.