French heel

plural French heels

1. A curved heel on a woman's shoe that is pitched forward so that the weight of the heel falls on the plantar arch.

   This embroidered and beaded silk shoe sports a sloping French heel.

   2006, Fiona Macdonald, Shoes and Boots through History

   2 more examples

   The French heel displaces the posterior support, and both piers of the double arch strike at once, which is fatal to grace of motion.

   1882, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, page 324

   I think it was the eldest Miss Lopez; I couldn't see her face, but I remember looking at the high French heel of her little shoe.

   2009, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, page 298

2. A shaped heel with narrow reinforcement on a sock or stocking.

   Grey marl and ribbed, with a cleverly turned foot she called a French heel that made them hold their own shape, like cartoon socks.

   2010, Belinda Bauer, Blacklands, page 105

   2 more examples

   The reason the French heel has not been entirely adopted is owing to the fact that while the making of the French foot requires an entirely new machine, it being such a radical change from the English foot, the leg can be made on the very machine which formerly made legs for English feet.

   1908, Textile World Record - Volume 35, page 696

   The reverse French heel (page 64) is worked in the reverse order of the topdown French heel. The gusset is worked first, and then the heel turn, followed by the heel flap.

   2012, Beth Parrott, Charlene Schurch, The Sock Knitter's Handbook: Expert Advice, Tips, and Tricks