YORE SHOES

 

 

 

 

Tudor

 

This Tudor shoe was found at the site of the old Rose Theatre in London and comes from Tudor times, dating to the year 1600. It has simple decoration of slashes across the front and shows us that shoes in Tudor times usually had a square toe.

 

Slashes in Tudor shoes were really popular. This is because it made the shoes softer and sometimes a coloured lining could be seen underneath. The Slash design may have come from an old idea that soldiers who had slashed clothes from battle wanted to show them off to give an impression of experience and power.

 

High society shoes were often made of very delicate material like silk or velvet so there are not many of those that we can still see today. A similar pair in white silk is worn by Henry VIII in the famous Holbein portrait of him standing proud in extremely lavish clothes. This means that this leather pair was probably worn by an everyday Londoner. It may have even belonged to an actor at the Rose theatre.

During the earlier reign of Henry VIII, (and throughout time) people wanted to show their wealth through their clothes. So, during this, wide shoulders and padding across the chest was popular to show strength.

 

Women’s Tudor shoes were very similar to male ones. Boots were practical but not fashionable in Tudor times but leather did become more popular as a material during the reign of Elizabeth I. It was during Elizabeth’s reign that some shoes began to purely have a fashion purpose and heels developed from earlier wedge structures during the end of Henry VIII’s reign. The plainer of his wives, Anne of Cleves apparently was different to Henry’s previous wives who wore jewelled footwear, she wore wooden shoes but soon was made to wear high heels in the royal English court. Did you know, Leonardo Da Vinci is said to have invented the high heel? By 1560, the slashed shoe was unpopular and shoes for women began to reach dizzying heights. In Venice, high heeled ‘Chopines’ were said to be as high as 24 inches and women had to employ a servant to help them walk along! John Evelyn, a famous diary writer who lived from 1620 – 1706, wrote: “Tis ridiculous to see how ladies crawle in and out of their gondolas by reason of their choppiness and what they appear when taken down from their wooden scaffolds”…

 

Poorer Tudor people wore simple leather shoes with studded soles to protect them against rough roads and bad weather.

 

Did you know? Henry VIII’s daughter Mary once had a shopping list for 38 pairs of velvet shoes lines with satin and with red soles. Her sister Elizabeth I was said to favour clothes in black and white and had leather shoes in colours of orange, green, white, black and crimson, a deep red/pink colour.

 

The 17th Century and Civil War

 

From the reign of James I, shoes began to become more practical and when the civil war broke out in 1642, military boots became fashionable. Boots were now an important part of daily life for fast riding, hunting, travelling and fighting. They weren’t just for show but a factor in winning or losing.  High boots often had secret pouches for letter messages or small objects. When hiding in a 17th Century forest in the civil war, you would be able to tell which political group was approaching you just by their clothes and their footwear. Cromwell’s men wore strong boots with cuffs which were turned down so legs could be bent for riding… The cavaliers would wear fancy high boots with funnel shaped tops and lace trimmed socks and the simple Puritans wore plain black leather shoes tied with grey ribbons. So – it would be pretty hard to quickly hide or pretend you were one of Cromwell’s men if you were wearing your most lacey socks!

 

During this time, heels became more popular, especially for men, and square ornamental and practical buckles were introduced and grew in popularity. Bows too. Sometimes, buckles and bows would be worn together on the same shoe, just for an extra trendy fashionable effect! Shoes were very expensive still so only the rich could afford such lavish shoes. The rich wore shoe protectors as a result, so their delicate precious fashion and a symbol of their status wasn’t ruined.

 

This is a pair of extremely large black leather ‘postillion's’ boots from after the civil war. A postillion was someone on horseback who was a guide to all the other horses and coach drivers in a group. They would have to be very strong and brave, with good strong shoes otherwise they wouldn’t be able to protect their group and face bad weather or highwaymen robbers along a long journey. This boot has spikey spurs for this protection purpose as you can see.

 

 

 

The Georgians

 

After the Civil war, goods became more luxurious. This meant clothes and shoes did too and European fashions started influencing English trends more and more. This was criticised by many people and the church as frivolous, too lavish and unnecessary. Higher classes used ribbons and increasingly jewelled buckles for their shoes instead of more common laces which were seen to be only for poor labourers. The Napoleonic wars again, influenced fashion and military themes also became popular. Did you know? Napoleon’s wife loved shoes and she would never wear the same pair of stockings twice. Her shoes were so delicate that they often wore out after just a day of wearing them!

 

When the French revolution started, change became faster and symbols of wealth like buckles and jewels became a bit risky as they didn’t show the message of fairness or equality. Styles became a little less lavish but as you can see, this Georgian dress boot shows that Georgians were determined to dress as decoratively as possible. These boots were for men and would be worn to give the illusion of shoes and lace socks when really they were comfortable boots. Boots were becoming more in use and ladies started to wear them too for walking and tasks other than just riding.

 

There was a big contrast in everyday footwear and royal court footwear. Ladies in the Georgian countryside for example would definitely be dressed differently to a royal courtier’s wife. Fashion was not important to most of society. Overall though, delicate and simple footwear was the fashion and if you were lucky enough to attend a party, little Georgian feet whether male or female were very often in soft silk or satin embroidered slippers with criss-crossed ribbon (rather like ballet shoes), ready to dance the night away.

 

Did you know? You could identify the class of fashionable ladies in France just by looking at what side their boots had buttons. The richest had buttons at the back, others at the sides and then the front.

 

From this time on, the industrial revolution brought machine made shoes to the masses and more and more factories were gradually opened to cope with the demand.

 

The Victorian Era

 

During the Victorian era, outdoor holidays and sport became more popular. This meant that their footwear once again, reflected how people’s daily living was changing and how their clothing and fashions adapted accordingly. Buttons were used on Victorian shoes a lot too, reflecting the tight ‘buttoned up’ outlook on life which modern day people remember them for.

 

Ankle boots became popular as a compromise between fashion and practicality. It wasn’t too comfortable in the Victorian era however. It was a time of strict rules and attitudes. Women had very restrictive clothing and corsets but they also had very tight shoes as they would be seen under hoops and petticoats. If shoes could be seen, they wanted their feet to look dainty so they squashed their feet into little thin boots like the photo. Men also preferred thin boots.

 

Did you know? Until 1881 (only 133 years ago), shoes were only made in whole sizes, not half sizes. This meant that until 1881, most people wore shoes which did not fit at all well! Half sizes were introduced in 1881 so shoes would have felt much more comfortable at last and daily life would have been cosier. At the end of the Victorian era, quarter sizes were even introduced but this didn’t last long as shopkeepers couldn’t afford to buy so many shoes in different sizes to stock.

 

To get a job in Victorian times, you might not even be allowed to apply if you didn’t have enough money for the uniform first. That’s how important clothes and footwear were. Despite long hours working in service for example in a house as a maid or a footman, you would need enough money to buy (in the case of girls)-two dresses, caps, cuffs, aprons, shoes, shirts and stiff collars. It could take two years working in a factory just to save up the money for this uniform to even be able to apply for a Job!

 

The Great exhibition was held in 1851 and it was a time to show off many inventions and products from all over the world that had never been seen before. This blue boot was exhibited at the actual exhibition (as a pair) and would have been part of the fantastic exhibition which was the most impressive place for a lucky or rich Victorian to visit at the time.

 

When Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert died ten years later in 1861, the whole country went into mourning and only black clothes and footwear were worn for a time.

 

 

 

The Twenties

 

The unisex look became popular in the twenties. Women had cropped hair and clothes became less fitted, alongside rebellious music and new spontaneous cultures like Jazz becoming popular. More sporting activities like tennis, gold and cycling was liberating after the horrors of the first world war and footwear began to be very sporty and dance ready. Children didn’t have to wear tight boots any longer and shoes became more open. There were more strap designs and machine-made cut outs instead of the tightly buttoned boots of the Victorian days and the practical home front footwear from World War One.

 

Did you know? When Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, styles of Egyptian architecture, art and in particular themed fashion and footwear with pyramid symbolism suddenly became in demand overnight.