The shoe-hat was created by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali for the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Winter 1937-38 collection. This accessory was inspired by a photo that Gala, Dali's wife, had taken of her husband wearing a woman's shoe.

The hat came in two versions: with a shocking pink heel or in plain black. It was worn with a jacket whose pockets and lapels were embroidered with glossy red lips, a nod to the glamour of actress Mae West, whose bust inspired the bottle for Schiaparelli's Shocking perfume.

In his memoirs, Schiaparelli states that "the honorable Mrs Reginald Fellowes, 'Daisy' to her friends, the most prominent and best-dressed woman, the arbiter of elegance of that era, had the courage to wear it."