Figure 1.--Here we see all four children in a Russian family, three boys and a girl wearing sailor outfits with sandals. A reader writes, "Two are also wearing striped socks. I have noted that striped socks were sometimes worn in combination with white double bar sandals. The stripes seemed to complement the straps of the shoes." I'm not sure when this portrait was taken. We would guess about 1905.

We do not have much information on Russia at this time. Russian clothing trends before the Revolution seem somewhat similar to German trends, at least among the urbanized middle class and wealthy families. We note some children wearing various kinds of sandals. The portrait here before the Revolution (figure 1) is a good example. Poor children in rural areas were more likely to go barefoot. We have much less informatuon after the Revolution. We note photographs of children at Pioneer camps wearing sandals after World War II. We also note younger school children wearing sandals. An example is sime First Day children (1988). A reader writes, "I was surprised to see Russian boys wearing t-strap sandals. Was this common?" Our information on Russia is still limited. As far as we can tell, folloing World war II as conditions improved, we do see Russian children wearing sandals. We see a variety of styles, especiall during the summer at Pioneer Camps.

Created: 12:23 AM 8/5/2005
Last updated: 4:18 PM 10/7/2008