You're half right, Larry.

It started in Croatia, but it took Louis XIV of France to make it really popular.

I have read somewhere that Louis's last wife, Mme. de Maintenon, a former governess to his children and a lady of very strict morals, sought to use the new fashion to keep courtiers from carrying on with each others' spouses at fancy-dress (often masked) balls by requiring each gentleman to wear a cravate using the same fabric as his wife's gown. Though I can document Mme. de Maintenon's character (she introduced the fairy tales of Charles Perrault to court in an attempt to counteract the cynical and libertine influences prevalent there), documentation of the cravate story escapes me.

You're right about the shoes. Fashion, however, has frequently foiled logic.

Regards--
Mary Anne