Figure 1.--Here we see an American brother and sister, pronably in the late 1920s. They look to be from a wealthy northeastern family, probably vacationing in a mountain resprt or the family summer "cottage". The short pants suit suggest the boy came from an upper-class family influenced by British styles. The Eton collars suggests that the portrait was probably taken in the late 20s rather than the early 30s, but that is just a guess. Notice that here the boy and not his sister wears the saddle shoes.

Early saddle shoes appear to have been primarily a boys style. we see them advertized in the 1910s as a kind of sports shoe, especially for tennis and golf. This was at a time that smeakers were just beginning to appear as well. This meant that they would at first have mostly been woen by sporty young men. They came to be worn by both for boys and girls. Girls also began wearing saddle shoes, but I am not sure just when this began, but they were commonly worn by girls by the 1940s. They were a style that both boys and girls could wear. Again when fashions cross over from boys to girls wear, often boys will stop wearing the style. This did not happen at first with saddle shoes as they were commonly worn by boys in the 1950s and 1960s. They were featured by Wards and Sears as children's shoes until the late 1950s when the shoes were identified only as girls, except for toddler boys.

Boys

Early saddle shoes appear to have been primarily a boys style. we see them advertized in the 1910s as a kind of sports shoe, especially for tennis and golf. This was at a time that smeakers were just beginning to appear as well. This meant that they would at first have mostly been woen by sporty teenagrs and young men. They came to be worn by both for boys and girls. And we begin to see younger boys wearing them after World WAr I. We do not see boys wearing them muvh to school. But we begin to see younger boys wearing thm sth Etin suits and with white First Communion suits.

Girls

Girls also began wearing saddle shoes, but we are not sure just when this began, but they were commonly worn by girls by the 1940s. Pir archive is limited. We thinksaddle shoes became opilsr with girls in the 1930s, but we know they were being widely worn by the 40s. We are not yet sure about the convention. We nor girls wearing thm with bobbu socks, both with shorts and olled up jeans. We also note jounger girls wearing ith dresses. Older girls might wear them with skirts. They were a style that both boys and girls could wear. Again when fashions cross over from boys to girls wear, often boys will stop wearing the style. This did not happen at first with saddle shoes as they were commonly worn by boys in the 1950s and 1960s. They were featured by Wards and Sears as children's shoes until the late 1950s when the shoes became more were identified only as girls, except for toddler boys. Girls wore them to school, but there popularity was affected by the growing populrity of smeakers by the 1970s.

Created: 4:32 PM 3/22/2005
Last updated: 5:30 AM 5/6/2013