Strap Shoes: Styling


Figure 1.-- The boy in the portrait appears to be wearing white r light colored strap shoes made out of fabric. Note that the shoes are decorated with puffballs or poms. The portrait was taken by B. Borri et Fils from Corfou, the French name for the Greek island of Corfu. The Cyrilic letters on the cap tally. We are not sure what the word is. .

The basic difference in style was that some strap shoes had the strap at the instep while others had them placed higher at the ankle. We have used this difference and the number of straps to define the type of shoes rather than the styling. There were also styling differences. While the style of basic strap shoes has been fairly standard, we have noted some differences. The most basic stylistic device was the chape of the shoe. Often the toe for children's shoe was rounded, but we have noted some with pointed toes. An example here is the shoes worn by William Dougherty, an American boy, about 1905. There were a variery of decorations or embelishments over time. These have included bows and poms. We have also noted cuting eyelets into the shoe. Some shoes had designs of colored stones or plastic set in the leather. Generally these stylistic changes were for the strap shoes worn by girls, but some boys in thate-19th and eaely 20th centuries also wore them. Girls strap shoes are made in a much greater variety of styles. HBC has noted, however, boys wearing the strap shoes with bows and poms through the 1910s.








HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Strap Shoe-related Pages:
[Return to the Main strap shoe page]
[Return to the Main 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:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Bibliographies] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Created: 11:40 PM 1/6/2009
Last updated: 11:40 PM 1/6/2009