Figure 1.--This studio portrait was done as a post It shows a mother in polka dot dress with her little boys. The older boy wears a shirt nd short pants. The toddler wears a romper suit. Both boys wear 'T' strap closed-toe sandals with out socks. Mother has resed up the boys, but not formally. We are unsure about when the photograph ws tken, but it looks like the post-War period, probanly about 1950.

Sandals have been worn by French boys for both dress and casual wear, but this was primarily the strap shoe and thus not correctly characterized as a sandal, although the construction was basically the same. Early styles of sandals weem mostly the shoe-like closed-toe sandal. The differencecwas commonly the materials used. Different styles in part determined the function. The most common sandal for dress wear was the single bar strap shoe. This style was widely worn as a dress shoe by children in the 19th century and continued to be worn in the early 20th century. The English school sandal was commonly worn in the inter war years (1920s and 30s) for school and might even be worn with a suit. It was also worn as a casual shoe. Casual wear seems the most common usage for sandls. As in England, they were worn much like boys now wear sneakers, the English-style 'T' stap sandal in particular were worn both with a suit and for play. Many other styles were worn for play, including single-bar and open work styles. Sandals were especially common during the warmer summer months. At least by the 1960s they had become less popular for boys. We do not see the post-War German style of caual sandal being worn in France. As soon as sneakers appeared in the 1960s, they quickly replaced closed-toe sandals which are now rarely worn except by very little boys and girls.

Created: 11:01 PM 3/1/2015
Last updated: 11:01 PM 3/1/2015