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English children, both boys and girls, wore strap shoes in both the 19th and 20th centuries. There were until after World War I no age connotations at least for children and until after World war II no gender conotations. Our image archive on the 19th century is still realtively limited. We note Rebecca Solomon's fascinating depiction of an idealized Victorian family (early-1850s). The boy wears ankle-style strap shoes with white three-quarter socks, We know much more about the 20th century. Srap shoes may be most associated with English boys because of A.A. Milne's Christopher Robin (and in recent years Disney). English boys wore strap shoes in the early 19th century, often with skeleton suits. We note both ankle strap shoes and instep strap shoes. Except for very young children, often in dresses, they appear to have declined in popularity. There were also social class aspects. While sandals were worn by a wide range of social classes, strap shoes seem more associated with the upper clss and affluent middle class. The standard strap shoes had a single bar. We note some with multiple bars. An example of a strap shoe was the ones worn by Ernest Barlett in 1904. They appear again in the early 20th century, first as dressy shoes with Fauntleroy suits and other formal outfits. There were especially common for weathly children. A good example is Adrian Gerald Foley in 1926. By the 1920s they began to be worn as play shoes, especially during the summer. Some boys wore rather dressy casual outfits. An example is a boy and his sister in 1916. By the 1930s, however, only girls and younger boys were wearing them. Older boys more commonly wore sandals with the "T" bar center piece that became known as school sandals. The last boys we see wearing strap shoes except at formal weddings were Princees Harry and William in the 1980s.
English children, both boys and girls, wore strap shoes in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike America, high-top shoes did not totally dominate footwear, especially children's footwear. Our image archive on the 19th century is still relaltively limited, but we see children wearing strap shoes and low-cut shoes in general much more commonly than in America. We note Rebecca Solomon's fascinating depiction of an idealized Victorian family (early-1850s). The boy wears ankle-style strap shoes with white three-quarter socks, We know much more about the 20th century. Srap shoes may be most associated with English boys because of A.A. Milne's Christopher Robin (and in recent years Disney). English boys wore strap shoes in the early 19th century, often with skeleton suits. We note both ankle strap shoes and instep strap shoes. Except for very young children, often in dresses, they appear to have declined in popularity. They appear again in the early-20th century, first as dressy shoes with Fauntleroy suits and other formal outfits. There were especially common for weathly children. A good example is Adrian Gerald Foley in 1926. By the 1920s they began to be worn as play shoes, especially during the summer. Some boys wore rather dressy casual outfits. An example is a boy and his sister in 1916. By the 1930s, however, this was changing. We mostly see girls and younger boys were wearing them. The major exceptiion was boys from wealthy families. Older boys more commonly wore sandals with the "T" bar center piece that became known as school sandals. Strap shoes for boys were becoming much less common after Workd War II (1939-45). The last boys we see wearing strap shoes except at formal weddings were Princees Harry and William in the 1980s. Looking at the portrait, is is hard to imagine he would evr do what he did to the Queen and royal family.
We notice two basic types of strap shoes. We see both instep and ankle strap shoes. Grald Foley here seems to be wearing ankle strap shoes (figure 1). Wee see both types in the 19th century. The ankle strap shoes continued ti worn in the early-20th century, but son went out of style. The standard strap shoes had a single bar. We note some with multiple bars. An example of a strap shoe with multiple bars were the ones worn by Ernest Barlett in 1904. Another example is an unidentified boy at about the same time. Much more common, however, were the single bar shoes. Here there were many variations such as the width of the strap and the area of open space between the strap and closed toe. We begin to see a new construction at the end of the 19th century. It is an ankle strap shoe with a center support post. We first see them as a dress shoe patent leather shoe (1890s). Iniitially this strap shoe was worn by both boys and girls, but it became seen as a girl's shoes over time. The same construction was adopted as a sandal in the late-1900s decade. The major difference being the leater material and the sole. The sandal had ordinary often brown leather and a more substantial sole. The sandal version came to be called school sandals.
There were a range of coinventions associated with strap shoes. These comventions have varied over time. There were until after World War I no age connotations at least for children and until after World war II no gender conotations. There was a practical aspect to both strap shoes and sandals for younger children. Many boys do not lear to tie their shoe laces until they are about 5-6 years old. The button or clasp closures are something the children could handle befor mastering the intricacies of tieing shoe laces. In the 20th century we see motly younger boys wearing strap shoes. This was mostly boys up to about 8 years old. This as the age boys went on to their boarding prep schools. They might wear sandals to these schools, but not strap shoes. Sandals were of course very similar to strap shoes, but the absence of that center post seems to have made a big difference to the boys. Of course once the strap shoe began to be seen as a girl's shoe style than boys no longer wanted to wear them. Strap shoes were also worn for formality in which case some of the age gendr conventions were relaxed. We see strap shoes being wirn with kilts for firmal occassions. This was not the normal footwear worn with kilts. There were also social class aspects. We note images of the royals and aristocratic children wearing strap shoes. While sandals were worn by a wide range of social classes, strap shoes seem more associated with the upper class and affluent middle class. Of course these are the groups most likeky to be involved in formal occassions.
We notice far fewer Amerucan boys wearing strap shoes and sandals than English boys. We also see strap shoes being worn on the contient, but this varied from country to country.
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