Fogure 1.--These German children in the early 1930s wear the same footwear. I am not sure about the German worn for them, but they look to be a kind of soft strap shoe. German children wore them at the time wore them as a play shoe, much like modern children wear sneakers.

Gender is another important factor to consider when studying German footwear. we note German boys and girls wearing a wide range of footwear. These styles and the gender conventions associated with them have varied widely. Today boys and girls tend to wear destinctive footwear. This has not always beeen the case. At times it was very common for boys and girls, especially younger boys and girls to wear the same footwear styles. At other styles boys and girls wore very different footwear styles. The samne is true of the basic footwwae styles. This includes the various types of sandals as well as the dfferent types of shoes. Various aspects of footwear have been used to develop gender distinctions. This has include footwear type, styling, decoration, and color. We can examone most of these aspects, except for color befoe the 1970s. Here the black and white photography of the day makrs it very dofficult to assess color.

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Created: 11:28 PM 10/22/2008
Last updated: 11:28 PM 10/22/2008