Vamp

Vamp (pronounced vamp)

(1) The portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes.

(2) Something patched up or pieced together (rare).

(3) In music, an accompaniment, usually improvised, consisting of a succession of simple chords.

(4) A seductive (and not necessarily conventionally attractive) woman who uses her sensuality to exploit men.  In this context a clipping of vampire.

(5) To use feminine charms upon; to seduce.

(6) Slang for vampire (rare, presumably to avoid confusion with vampish women).

(7) Modern urban slang for the act of leaving an area or scene, due usually to wishing no longer to be there.

(8) Modern urban slang for late (or all) night sessions, an allusion to the nocturnal habits of vampires.

1175-1225: From Middle English vampe, borrowed from Anglo-French vaumpé and Old French avantpié (front part of a shoe (hence, something patched)), from avant (to the fore, front) + pié (foot) derived from the Latin pēs.  As applied to music, meaning dates from 1789 but from the early twentieth-century associated mostly with jazz.  Popular usage, as a descriptor of the seductive femme fatale, was first noted in 1911, derived from film and theatre performances inspired by the Kipling poem, The Vampire.  Vamper is verb and noun, vampish the adjective.  The term "re-vamp" (updating or refreshing something) is based upon the use by cobblers (to replace the vamp in a shoe).

The etiquette of toe cleavage

Analogous with other displays, toe cleavage is the partial exposure of toes in shoes cut low at the vamp and specialists in the field have offered opinions.  Noted shoe stylist Manolo Blahnik, although an early advocate, urged some restraint in suggesting one should show “…only the first two cracks" but, given anatomical variation and the production-line standardization of all but the rare bespoke creations, it’s a rule difficult to enforce.  Christian Louboutin, he of the red soles, is less prescriptive, liking toe cleavage and more rather than less.  His designs emphasize the curved form of the foot, the instep, and he tends to conceal “…the heel and reveal the arch, culminating in a low-cut vamp."  Vogue’s venerable editor Anna Wintour, doesn’t specify how much toe cleavage should be displayed but agrees it’s an essential part of a voguette’s dress code; her point being the look "must never be combined with stockings".

Vampish: Lindsay Lohan’s ample toe cleavage on show in Christian Louboutin stilettos.  Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Madrid, 2014.