Talking Shoes

Anne here, pleading deadline dementia for what will be a very short, thin and possibly frivolous blog. It started thus: there is an old lady in my current story I'm working on at the moment, and she had occasion to have several old trunks fetched down from the attic.

"What's in the trunks?"
Lady Beatrice smiled. "My youth."
Abby opened the first leather trunk and lifted out XXXX.

"What's XXXX?" you ask. In my manuscripts XXXX means research or fix or work this bit out later.

So, the time had come for me to to find out, and describe, what was in the old lady's trunks. She's in her late 60's now, in 1816, which means her youth — which I take to mean her come out, before she was married, would have been in the 1770's.

And here's where the fun started. First I was looking for dresses she might have worn that I could describe. Some writers are wonderful at bringing a dress to life, but I'm not made that way. I don't lovingly detail each item of clothing — my descriptions are more like a quick, thumbnail sketch. And in any case, part of the purpose of this scene was for the old lady to reminisce a little.

But on my way through the various sites on the web dealing with 1770's fashions I came across — and was completely sidetracked by— shoes. And yes, I'll 'fess up — I fell in love with some of them.

Take, for instance, these stunning shoes on the left, made of yellow silk with elegant curved heels. They look so modern and stylish (in a slightly off-beat way) it's hard to believe these shoes are nearly 250 years old.

What surprised me was how many of the shoes were made of fabric — silk, brocade, satin, often embroidered. Of course they were for indoor wear, and by ladies who stepped in and out of carriages, no doubt. Many shoes were made of leather, too, of course, but I'm guessing not the special occasion ones, unless they were made of kid or some delicate leather like that.

Here's another pair I loved — embroidered fabric with satin ruffles, and the same kind of heels. (These shoes are also from: http://trouvais.com//?s=shoes&search=Go used with permission. Photography Bruno Suet)

Buckles were very fashionable at this time, and they were made of what was called "paste" — fake diamonds and other "jewels" made of glass and crystal (more of that in a blog coming up.) Here is a lovely pair of green damask and silk shoes with paste diamante buckles. The shoes had two flaps, which crossed over and were fastened with the buckles.

 

There's another very sweet pair of deep rose pink shoes with paste buckles here. They were obviously a favorite pair, and have been well used before being set aside and saved for posterity. And here's another gorgeous pair of pink embroidered glazed wool shoes. You will find an excellent collection of 18th Century shoes here(. I suspect you will also find it's very hard to stop looking — I did.) 

These lovely, if tattered — well, they're 239 years old— white silk shoes on your right are inscribed with a wedding date c1773. Note the beautiful diamante (paste) buckles and the elegant curved heels. According to Wikipedia, this is where we get the modern name of "louis heels."

http://trouvais.com//?s=shoes&search=Go used with permission. Photography Bruno Suet)

I got completely sidetracked researching gorgeous eighteenth century shoes for my old lady to have worn and saved, but do I regret it? No way. 

And then, of course, I got sidetracked into Regency-era shoes, and came across these stunning white satin boots. I'm wondering if I can have my autumn bride wear them. They're a decade or so past her wedding date, but would they have changed so much in fifteen years? And would a bride wear boots? What do you think?

Note: Wench Nicola Cornick has just told me she's written an article for the September Issue of Romantic Times on historical shoes — a slightly different take from this one. Look out for it.

Are you a shoe person? Do you love shoes?  Do you remember the shoes of your youth? Have you saved any special shoes, or do you remember a favorite pair? Or don't you care what goes on your feet, as long as they do the job?

Comments

[Cynthia Owens]

Great post, Anne, and what lovely shoes! I'm not really a shoe person, but I do have very fond memories of a pair of spike-heeled shoes I wore for prom many years ago. The shoes themselves weren't particularly special, but they were my first pair of heels, and my late father took me shopping for them. Dad was definitely NOT a shopper, but he took me out for lunch that day and helped me pick out the shoes. It's a memory of Dad I'll always cherish.

[Anne Gracie]

Cynthia, that's a lovely memory to have of your dad. My dad wasn't a shopper, either, so I really understand that this was something special your dad did for his little girl. Lovely story — thanks for sharing.

[Ora]

I love shoes. I wish I could still wear more fashionable shoes. Due to issues with my feet I am stuck with orthopedic and tennis shoes with inserts, however in the summer I will pay the price with pain so I can wear sandals. Yes the pain is worth it.

[Anne Gracie]

Hi Ora, I sympathize. I mostly wear comfy shoes, too — runners (trainers) a lot of the time — mainly because my feet aren't standard. The shoes I fall in love with most invariably don't fit me, but every now and then I come across shoes I love that also love me, and it's wonderful.

[Isobel Carr]

Not only do I LOVE period shoes, but they’re frankly one of the hardest things to come by for re-enactors. It’s almost impossible to find anything accurate (regardless of era), they’re not something most of us can make for ourselves, and even the less than satisfactory ones often cost hundreds of dollars. I have shoes from several different centuries, but I can’t say I’m truly happy with any of them. Someday I’ll figure out how to convince the folks at Colonial Williamsburg to make me a pair!

[CateS]

I love to look at shoes, but I'm another refugee from heels... Can't do those anymore..

[LouisaCornell]

Shoes are NEVER frivolous! I am most definitely a shoe person! On my last move my brothers were horrified at the number of plastic shoe boxes, carefully labeled they were forced to move for me.

This post is FABULOUS! And I am amazed at the variety of shoes available during the Georgian and Regency eras.

I have many favorite pairs of shoes, but I think the most fun pairs are the two pairs I saved from my high school days. They are platform shoes from the late seventies. My niece needed clothing for a 70's Day at school. She couldn't believe I ever wore those shoes, but they were a big hit at her school.

These days its comfortable shoes for me for the most part. I have to wear trainers for work because I am on my feet all day. And at home I wear crocs or slippers.

RWA National Conference is the only time I get to pull out my pretty shoes and heels or not I WEAR them!

[Mary Jo Putney]

I am totally not a shoe person--my feet demand comfort, neither more nor less. Once I took a pair of nicely broken in loafers to a cobbler for new heels and he dramatically dropped them into the trash, saying they were a disgrace and he wouldn't work on them. (But they were very nicely broken in...)

Despite my lack of shoe-ness, the post is delightful. I can imagine how elegant a lady would feel to wear such frivolous little charmers. (But how did you dance in them?)

And now I'm clamoring for your book! WHen will it be out??!!!

[Patricia Rice]

I'm with MJ, so very not a shoe person. When I was very young, I'd buy shoes to buy every outfit, then learned those shoes took up space and hurt my feet. So then I went to a few basic colors in comfortable styles, and my feet broke down wearing even kitten heels. So while I may admire the lovely shoes, I'll take uggs please.

[Jo Beverley]

Jo here. Not really a shoe person, either, though I admire the truly special ones on other people's feet!

Mary Jo, why do you think the Georgian shoes would be hard to dance in? People do dance in heels. Wasn't it Ginger Rogers who said she did everything Astaire did, but backwards and in heels?

Remembering my younger days and high heels, it's all in the fit, and I can hope the pretty shoes were well fitted.

Anne, aren't the white Regency ones half-boots? I think a bride could easily wear them, as her gown would likely be a day dress rather than an evening one, unless she's grand and getting married by Special Licence.

I came across something about how some Regency women made their own slipper-like shoes, and I think it would be quite easy.

Jo

[Maggie Robinson]

I used to be a shoe person. I will not tell you how many pairs of shoes I owned. But something evil has happened to my feet & they've become irritated and blistery by everything except fabric flats from FootSmart. Mostly I go barefoot, which is kind of hard in the winter in Maine. ;)

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Louisa, if I fitted shoes more easily I'd probably have a zillion shoe boxes, too. Oh, weren't those platform soles amazing?

I wore a pair of them when I was in a band called Platform Souls (we were a train band, but my shoes were a visual pun.) I bought them from a charity shop, and was surprised that they were as comfortable as they were — it was no hardship to wear them for a whole evening.

My favorite pair of shoes was a sweet little pair of hand-made leather slippers (regency style almost) that I bought in a market in Quebec, many years ago.

[Anne Gracie]

Mary Jo, that cobbler had No Idea, did he? The importance of nicely broken in loafers that just needed a little mending to stop them falling apart. I've had the same experience.

It's my firm opinion that a cobbler's job is to make shoes new again.

As for, "But how did you dance in them?" — that's exactly the question my old lady is asked.
But ballroom dancing shoes invariably have heels, and Jo's right, Ginger Rogers did do everything Fred Astaire did, "only backwards and in high heels."

And my book will be out in February, I think. Not sure.

[Mary Jo Putney]

**Mary Jo, why do you think the Georgian shoes would be hard to dance in? People do dance in heels. Wasn't it Ginger Rogers who said she did everything Astaire did, but backwards and in heels?**

I don't really understand how modern dancers do it, either. But the fabric Georgian slippers do seem somewhat more fragile than leather.

I'm trying to remember if I ever had a pair of favorite shoes. I have a pair of Skechers sports shoes that close with a velcro strap so their completely adjustable.
I'm going to hate when they fall to pieces. They're very handy on holidays when one is stomping around African game parks and the like. And they don't make them any more. (Alas, I've looked.)

Mostly in the summer I wear slides, in the winter well stretched loafers.

[Anne Gracie]

Isobel, probably the best place to find shoemakers to make the kind of period shoes you want might be in Europe, where pockets of the old craft might still exist, along with the right tools etc.

A friend of mine's grandfather was a shoemaker and when he died his family looked at the shed full of wooden lasts (wooden shapes for making shoes on) and decided to burn them in their stove. I was just a kid, but I could never get over the casual way they "threw another last on the fire." There were hundreds — they were burning them for months. Now lasts like that sell in antique shops.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, Anne, this is SUCH a fun blog. I have to confess, I've never really been a shoe person. Living very near NYC, I am constantly walking by Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo's creations, but while I appreciate the aethetics, they don't light a fire. (I'm also tough on shoes, and can't see spending that much money—I'd probably snap a heel in the first week!)

But these historic shoes are just beautiful—love the lines and curves. So I may change my mind about footwear. (Especially as they don't require wearing stiletto heels!)

[Shannon McEwan]

I was never much of a high-heel person until I started dancing Argentine Tango. That's when I discovered that dance heels are different to 'fashion heels'. They're better balanced, and the heel is stronger! So of course I indulged myself and bought a bunch of beautiful tango shoes. Then I got pregnant - and - (why does nobody ever tell you this stuff beforehand?) - my feet went up a size! Still trying to work up the courage to find a new home for those shoes. My daughter's feet are longer and thinner than mine, so no point saving the shoes for her :-(

[Nicola Cornick]

What a fantastic blog post, Anne, and such great comments too. Thank you for mentioning my shoe article as well.

I love hearing other people's shoe stories. I LOVE shoes. The shocking pink ones I wore to one RWA Conference still have pride of place in my wardrobe. As for historic shoes, I haunt the costume collections at Bath and at Killerton House to see such gorgeous creations!

[Anne Gracie]

Cara.Andrea, I find those designer shoes frighteningly high and flimsy-looking, and mostly they don't even really appeal as footwear, though they are pretty. And I have nothing but admiration and awe for people who can wear them and walk and dance and live in them for long hours of the day and night.

[Anne Gracie]

Shannon, thank you so much for the expert's view of heeled shoes — I'm so pleased proper tango shoes are better designed and are comfortable to dance in.

I love the tango — watching it, that is. ;)
Would also love to read a good Latin American historical with the tango in it one day.

[theo]

You are already familiar with my love of shoes, especially the high-heeled red, power shoes I like so well. (Just found a new pair, by the way)

I love this post! It brought to mind a picture though that I saw a few years ago now that stirred a HUGE discussion/debate on the interwebs. I was of course, all for the idea behind the picture. Others were not very kind. I'll let you all make up your own minds, but in the grand scheme of things, have women's shoes and the intentions behind the ones we choose to wear, really changed?

http://goo.gl/OGTwp

OH! And I believe I remember a pair of blue kidd shoes along with some 'serviceable wool dresses' in another novel...

[Anne Gracie]

Theo, I just looked at the photo of the girl's shoes with the naval reunions in the background, and I'm puzzled as to why it caused such a furore.

I do love the sound of blue kid shoes. Or red ones, for that matter. I'm fond of colored shoes myself, and had a beautiful handmade pair of flat, blue leather shoes and a pair of claret-colored red long boots, also flat, also handmade. Alas, that wonderful shoemaker retired and the shoes and boots wore out.

[theo]

I loved that picture. To me, it epitomized everything every wife of a returning veteran must feel when they're loved one comes home. Hope, happiness, excitement, the list goes on. But for a good rundown in a short read, Hamptsonroads.com had a fairly good article though I found as many detractors as I did celebrants of the photo. And it gives you the background of the photo itself.

http://goo.gl/ikoRL

And weren't those blue kid shoes on someone named Faith? ;o)

[Anne Gracie]

Theo, I have a bit of a thing about blue kid, I admit. In my current manuscript, the heroine lovingly fondles a pair of blue kid gloves that she can't afford. But I think I might have edited that scene out.

And that's why I didn't remember Faith's blue kid shoes — so often my clothing and footwear scenes get edited out when I'm trying to cut back on the word count. So it sounded like one of my books, but I wasn't sure it was in there still. ;)

As for your take on that shoe/navy vets returning home photo, that's almost exactly what I thought, too, which is why I didn't understand what the fuss would be about.

[Kay]

Lovely shoes. Because my mind some times travels down different roads, do you think those shoes also have foot odor. Then the odor would be over 200 years old also and be from the person who actually wore them.

[badgley mischka shoes]

i like these shoes