Figure 1.--This unidentified portrait shows two girls and their little brother. The children look to be about 8-14 years old. The girls have ringlet curls and huge hair bows. Their brother wears a knickers suit. All the children have long stockings. Notice the varied footwear. The girl with white long stockings wers strap shoes with clasp closures. The other two children have lace up shoes. Notice the older girls high shoes with an incredible number pf eyelets. It must have been a real task sorting that out in the morning. It is undated, but looks likes the 1910s, both because of the knickers and the lace-up shoes. Earlier we would have seen straight-leg knee pants and button shoes.

Another major change was that the button shoes which dominated late-19th century footwear were replaced by lace up shoes. This change ocurred t about the same time as the shidt to knickers, but was not quite as abrupt. Both boys nd girls made this change. This change occurred about the same tim as the change from knee pants to knickers, but was unrelated. We also boys weating what were called barefoot sandals. Quite a few boys wore them during the summer, but this declined in the 1920s. And we do not see many boys wearing sandals again until the the end of the century, first in California, but gadully in the rest of the country as well. Many boys went barefoot, espcially in rurl areas and the South. For some reason we begin to see barefoot boys in studio photography. We do not see this earlier or later. And by the 20th century we have the snapshot and can make some assessments of the relative importance of various forms of footwear or going barefoot. Until this we only know how people dressed up for a studio portrit and only those who could aford a portrait. This is especially imprtant for footwear as it is the most expensive clothing item.

Created: 7:39 AM 4/15/2017
Last updated: 7:39 AM 4/15/2017