Stiletto (pronounced sti-let-oh)
(1) A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing; usually thick in proportion to its width.
(2) An archaic name for the rapier.
(3) A pointed instrument for making eyelet holes in needlework; a sharply pointed tool used to make holes in leather; also called an awl.
(4) A very high heel on a woman's shoe, tapering to a very narrow tip, also called the spike heel or stiletto heel.
(5) A beard trimmed to a pointed form.
(6) A style used in the fashioning of decorative fingernails.
1605–1615: From the Italian stiletto, a doublet of stylet, the construct being stil(o) (dagger or needle (from the Latin stilus (stake, pens))) + -etto (-ette) and from the Latin stilus came also stelo, an inherited doublet. The etto- suffix was used to forms nouns from nouns, denoting a diminutive. It was from the Late Latin -ittum, accusative singular of –ittus, and was the alterative suffix used to form melioratives, diminutives, and hypocoristics and existed variously in English & French as -et, in Italian as Italian -etto and in Portuguese & Spanish as -ito. With an animate noun, -etto references as male, the coordinate female suffix being -etta, which is also used with inanimate nouns ending in -a. It should not be confused with the homophonous suffix -eto. Stilus was from the primitive Indo-European (s)teyg- (related to instīgō & instigare) and was cognate with the Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō) (to mark with a pointed instrument) and the Proto-Germanic stikaną (to stick, to stab). Despite the similarity, there’s no relationship with the Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos) (a pillar).
Lindsay Lohan in Christian Louboutin Madame Butterfly black bow platform booties with six-inch (150 mm) stiletto heel.
A quasi-technical adoption in law-enforcement and judicial reports were the verb-forms stilettoed & stilettoing, referring to a stabbing or killing with a stiletto-like blade. It was a popular description used by police when documenting the stabbing by wives of husbands or boyfriends with scissors or kitchen knives; use faded in the mid-twentieth century. The idea of a long, slender beard trimmed into a pointed form being "a stiletto" popular in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries but all such forms seem now to be referred to either as "a goatee" or "a Van Dyke". The adjectival use can also sometimes need to be understood in the context of the phrase or sentence: "a stilettoed foot" can be either "the foot of someone wearing a shoe with a stiletto heel" or "a foot which has been stabbed with a long, thin blade. Stiletto & stilettoing are nouns & verbs, stilettoed is a verb & adjective and stilettolike (also stiletto-like) is an adjective; the noun plural is either stilettos or stilettoes.
Of blades and heels
The stiletto design for small bladed weapons pre-dates not only modern metallurgy but antiquity itself. The essence, a short, relatively thick blade, was technologically deterministic rather than aesthetic, most metals of the time not being as sturdy as those which came later. Daggers were for millennia an essential weapon for personal protection but, particularly after developments in ballistics; they tended to evolve more for formal or ceremonial purposes.
The Schutzstaffel (SS) dagger model M1933 (often abbreviated to M33).
The M1933 was the standard issue to all SS members, the hilt either silver or nickel-plate while the grip was black wood. Produced in large numbers, collectors are most attracted to the low-volume variations such as those without the manufacturer’s trade-mark or RZM control markings. Most prized are the rare handful with a complete "Ernst Röhm inscription" which read In herzlicher freundschaft, Ernst Röhm (In heartfelt friendship, Ernst Röhm). Given his his habits, enjoying Röhm's "friendship" would for a few have proved a double-edged sword. Some 136,000 of the engraved SA daggers were produced, a further 9900-odd distributed to the SS. After Röhm (1887–1934; chief of the Nazi Sturmabteilung (the stormtroopers (the SA)) was executed during the Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives), also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird) in 1934, all holders of the Röhm Honour Dagger were ordered to have the inscription removed and most complied, the unmodified survivors thus highly collectable although in some countries, the very idea of trading Nazi memorabilia is becoming controversial. As ceremonial devices, bladed weapons were a feature of the uniforms worn during the Third Reich (1933-1945) and they were issued to all branches of the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces) the police, the various paramilitaries, the diplomatic service as well as organizations as diverse as the railways, the fire services, the forestry service and the postal office. In this they were continuing a long German tradition but the Nazis vision of a homogenous, obedient population included the notion that uniforms should be worn wherever possible and there is something in the cliché that (at least at the time), no German was ever as happy as when they were in uniform.
Although the term is used widely, in the narrow technical sense, not all slim, high heels are stilettos. The classic stilettos were the extremely slender Italian originals produced between the 1930s and 1960s, the heels of which were no more than 5 mm (0.2 inch) in diameter for much of their length, flaring at the top only to the extent structurally required successfully to attach to the sole; the construction of solid steel or an alloy. Many modern, mass-produced shoes sold as "stilettos" are made with a heel cast in a rigid plastic with an internal metal tube for reinforcement, a design not having the structural integrity to sustain the true stiletto shape. However, English is democratic and in the context of footwear, "stiletto" now describes the visual style, regardless of the materials.
The lines of the classic black stiletto (top left) were long ago made perfect and can't be improved upon; such is the allure that many women are prepared to endure inconvenience, instability, discomfort and actual pain just to wear them. They appeal too to designers and the style, the quintessential feminine footwear, has been mashed-up with sneakers, Crocs, work-boots, sandals and even a scuba-diver's flippers (though their natural environment was the catwalk). Military camouflage is often seen, designers attracted by the ultimate juxtaposition of fashion and function. The Giuseppe Zanotti Harmony Sandals (bottom row, second from right) were worn by Lindsay Lohan on The Masked Singer (2019).
In the world of fingernail fashioning, there are stilettos and stilettos square. A statement shape, something of a triumph of style over functionally, the stiletto gains its dramatic effect from long and slender lines and can be shaped with either fully-tapered or partially square sides. They’re vulnerable to damage, breaking when subjected to even slight impacts and almost never possible with natural growth and realistically, pointed nails, certainly in their more extreme iterations (the stilettos, lipstick, mountain peaks, edges, arrow-heads, claws or talons), are more for short-term effect than anything permanent. Best used with acrylics, the knife-like style can be a danger to the nail itself and any nearby skin or stockings. Those contemplating intimacy with a women packing these should first ponder the implications (although the "Edge" looks more lethal). True obsessives insist the stiletto styles should be worn only with matching heels and then only if the colors exactly match.
The Hillman Imp was a small economy car introduced in 1964. It was the product of the Rootes Group which needed an entry in a market segment which had been re-defined by the British Motor Corporation’s (BMC) Mini (1959-2000) and although similar in size, the engineering was radically different: rather than the Mini's front-engine / front wheel drive (FWD) arrangement which became (and to this day remains) the template for the industry, the Imp was configured with a rear-engine and rear wheel drive (RWD), something which had for years been a feature of small Europeans cars but was in the throes of being abandoned. It never achieved the commercial success of the BMC product although it continued in production after 1967 when the Rootes group was absorbed by Chrysler and, perhaps remarkably, it remained on the books until 1976. In that time, it sold in not even 10% of the volume achieved by the Mini.
What “Sports Racing Closed” was and what “Sports Sedans” became. Peter Brock (1945-2006), Austin A30-Holden, Hume Weir, 1968 (left) and Frank Gardner (1931-2009), Chevrolet Corvair, Oran Park, 1976 (right). The A30 ran a six cylinder Holden engine and sat on a frame built from a Triumph Herald chassis, all these elements bought from wrecking yards. With a Chevrolet V8, the Corvair was converted to a mid-engined configuration and underneath was essentially a Lola T332 Formula 5000 race car. Almost unbeatable on the track (except in the wet), the Corvair was legislated out of the sport, the rule changes preventing such a machine for being fielded again.
In Australia, what became the “sports sedans” began in the mid-1960s as a distinctly amateur form of racing called “Sports Racing Closed” which was closer to Formula Libre than any of the rule-bound categories in the mainstream. What rules there were initially demanded little more than the use of some sort of saloon car (loosely interpreted) with certain safety fittings such as a roll-cage but beyond that builders were limited only by their budget and imagination. As a non-professional, semi-official category, budgets tended to be tight but deeply imaginations (along with wrecking yards) were mined to compensate, resulting in some occasionally bizarre but often intriguing machines. A predictably popular theory was to find the smallest and lightest car and install the biggest, most powerful engine one could afford. The “hot-rod” formula attracted many competitors and a dedicated following but the racing establishment looked (down) upon the Sports Racing Closed category disapprovingly and would liked it to have gone away but, fast and loud, the crowds loved it so race organizers were anxious to invite the little hot rods to compete, knowing they’d draw a large (paying) audience. By 1969, things had developed to the point where rather than just stage stand-alone races, what was planned was the “Australian Sports Sedan Championship” but CAMS (the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, then the sport’s national regulatory body) refused to grant these upstarts the dignity of a “championship” and would concede only that they may contest a “trophy”. The dam had however been breached and from that beginning, the sports sedans entered the mainstream, becoming one of the most popular categories of the 1970s.
Harry Lefoe in Hillman Imp-Ford. Still with small square flares, trying to find traction, Oran Park 1970 (left), be-winged in an attempt to stay on the track, Hume Weir, 1971 (centre) and in final (flared) form, Hume Weir 1974 (right).
That drew in television coverage, sponsorship and the involvement of factories, a new professionalism which doomed the era of hybrid machines built with parts salvaged from wrecking yards. In the last days of amateurism however there were still a few old-school machines fielded and was wilder most. The Hillman Imp did enjoy some success in competition, winning three successive British Saloon Car Championships between 1970-1972 (competing in Class A (under 1000 cm3)) but before that, the light weight and diminutive dimensions held great appeal for Australian earth-moving contractor Harry Lefoe (1936-2000) who had a spare 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) Ford (Windsor) V8 sitting in his workshop. By 1969 the Imp was a Chrysler product and the recently formed Australian Sports Sedan Association (ASSA) had published guidelines which included restricting engines to those from cars built by the manufacturer of the body-shell but because the Windsor V8 had earlier been used in the Sunbeam (a corporate companion to Hillman) Tiger (1964-1967) the mix qualified. So the big lump of an iron V8 replaced the Imp's 875 cm3 (53 cubic inch) aluminium four and such was the difference in size that Lefoe insisted his Imp had become “mid-engined” although it seems not to have imparted the handling characteristics associated with the configuration, the stubby hybrid infamous for its tendency to travel sideways. It was never especially successful but even more than most at the time it was loud, fast, spectacular and always a crowd favourite. The prodigious power and short wheelbase made the thing “twitchy” and in an attempt to improve traction and keep the rear wheels in contact with the road Lefoe fitted an elevated wing in the style which had been briefly popular in Formula One and the Can Am until being banned following a number of accidents caused by component failure. In Australia a similar ban was soon imposed so Lefoe’s only obvious path to grip was to fit wider tyres which necessitated the fashioning of enveloping flares. The approach brought some success but it was the end of an era as the fields increasingly were filled by highly developed (and expensive) machines, created often with factory support and the use of chassis not far removed from open-wheel racing cars. Lefoe’s Imp was most influential because the car which in the mid 1970s was the dominant sports sedan was a (much modified) Chevrolet Corvair, another rear-engine machine transformed into something mid-engined. So dominant was it the rules were changed limiting how far an engine could be moved from the original location.
Introduced in 1967, the Sunbeam Stiletto was a “badge-engineered” variant of the Imp (there were also Singers), the name an allusion to the larger Sunbeam Rapier (a stiletto a short blade, a rapier longer). Badge engineering (a speciality of the British industry during the post-war years) was attractive for corporations because while it might increase unit production costs by 5-10%, the retail price could be up to 40% higher. Very much a “parts-bin special” (although there was the odd unique touch such as the quad-headlamps and the much-admired dashboard), mostly it was a mash-up, the fastback bodywork already seen on the Imp Californian and some interior fittings and the more powerful twin carburettor engine shared with the Singer Chamois. Curiously, some sites report the fastback lines proved less aerodynamically efficient than the Imp’s more upright original, the opposite of what was found by Ford in the US when the “formal roof” Galaxies proved too slow on the NASCAR ovals, a “semi-fastback” at essentially the same angle as the Stiletto proving the solution; the physics of aerodynamics can be counter-intuitive. Stiletto production ceased in 1972 with the Sunbeam brand-name retired in 1976 although Chrysler used it as a model name until 1981.
