** boys strap shoes: chronology








Strap Shoes: Chronology


Figure 1.--Montgromery Ward in 1922 offered these "children's" shoes. They included high-top buckle and lace-up shoes and starp shoes. Gender specific shoe styles were not yet a convention for children. The strap shoes were available through size eight, but only in black. Note that the strap shoe is referred tomas a strap sandal.

We are not sure who developed this style of shoe or just why it was considered suitable for children. The style itself has ancient origins and a shoe with a open front and crossbar was widely worn in the Middle Ages by both men and women, it was not at the time, however, considered a child's style. Strap shoes for children appeared early in 19th century. I have first noted them worn by boys with skeleton suits. I am not sure who developed this style of shoe or just why it was considered suitable for children. The style itself has ancient origins and a shoe with a open front and crossbar was widely worn in the Middle Ages by both men and women, it was not at the time, however, considered a child's style.

Ancient Civilizations

We are not sure who developed this style of shoe or just why it was considered suitable for children. The style itself has ancient origins. Open-toe sandals were a much more common style of footwear in ancient civilizations. Early civilizations developed in war climates and thus warm footwear may have not been widely needed. Children except for the privlidged classes would have mostly gone barefoot. We do note closed-toe sandals or strp shoes in Ancient Rome. We have less information on other early civilizations.

Medieval Era


Renaisance (1400-1700)

The shoe style with an open-top front and crossbar was widely worn during the Renaisance. We also notice "T" straps. Some of the styles are remarkably similar to modern styles. They seem to have been a kind of soft-leather shoe. I'm not sure about the soles. We notice them in period portraits which means mostly royalty and the afluent. We are less sure about what the peasantry and urban poor wore. They were worn by both men and women, as well as children. It was not at the time, however, considered specufically a child's style. Numerous paintings show this style of footwear being worn. We will link examples here to build a time line of this style of footwear.

18th Century


19th Century

Strap shoes for children appeared early in 19th century. I have first noted them worn by boys with skeleton suits. I am not sure who developed this style of shoe or just why it was considered suitable for children. The style itself has ancient origins and a shoe with a open front and crossbar was widely worn in the Middle Ages by both men and women, it was not at the time, however, considered a child's style. The strap shoe does not appear to have had gender conotations. It does appear to have social class conotations. Given the rough outdoor conditions, this was not a shoe that would be worn by a child to tromp around outdoors. Only children living in a nice home and that were conveyed to special occasions outside the home would wear them. It was a dress shoe, children did not wear them for play. Hightop shoes were the most coomon shoe in the late 19th century. We do see many boys wearing these shoes for formal portraits. An example of the instep-strap style is A. Balfour, a Canadian boy in 1893. An example of a ankle-strap style is another Canadian boy. Unfortunately many available images are undated. We note many strap shoes came with bows. We are not yet sure how to date these bows.

20th Century

The strap shoe shoe changed significantly during the 20th century. While many of these changes were not manifest on the early 20th century, they became increasingly apparent after World War I (1914-18) by the 1920s. New styles appeared with varying placement of the center strap and the addition of ribbons as well as other stylistic inovations. The shoe became availabe in many colors, including white, red, and blue. It became increasingly perceived as a girl's shoe and boys wearing them declined in age as the century progressed. It also became a play shoe and play versions were referred to as sandals rather than shoes. The play versions were often the colored ones, especially red. Dress shoes continued to be mostly black and to a lesser extent white. Different materials besides patent leather were used to make the shoes. Our chronological assessment becomes more complicated in the 20th century. This is because the concept of a sandal as a casual, play shoe developed. We refer to these shoes as closed-toe sandals and have a separate 20th century chronology.







HBC






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Strap Shoe-related Pages:
[Return to the Main strap shoe page]
[Return to the Main sandal page]
[White knee socks] [Sand shoes] [Pinafores] [Smocks] [Kilts]
[Ringlet curls] [Fauntleroy suits] [Buster Brown suits] [Ring bearers]


Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[About Us]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Girls] [Theatricals]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Index] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Main HBC Topic page]
[Boys' Historical Clothing Home]




Created: January 16, 2001
Last updated: 1:33 AM 2/16/2006