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We note strap shoes bein made as a dress shoe and a casual or play shoe. We first see hem being worn as a kind of dress shioe with skleton suit (early 19th century), although in the ahe bevfore phitograophy we have few actual details of the shoes. Than with the inventiion of photograohy (1839) meant thast we begin tio see real details. Although it was not until the advent of the CDV (1860s) that footwear was not commonly cropped out of the studio images. It is at this time that the high-top shoes appeared, although the idea of a casual or play shoe did not yet exist. High-top shoes became common, although not nearly universal as in America. American boys wearing Fauntleroy suits with high-top shoes. French boys more commonly wiore strap shors. We see strap shoes becoming widely worn in France in the second half of the 19th century and even more common in the eaely-20 century. It is in the 20century that we see the casual/plsy versions emerge. They were much more common in France. They were also more common than in England, although the English developed a a related style--the school sandal.
Strap shoes may have been more popular in France and than any other European countries. As in England they were worn with skeleton suits. There were also commonly worn by boys still in dresses before breeching. In the late 19th century and early 20th century strap shoes with Fauntleroy suits were common. I believe the dress shoe was usually black, the more expensive made in patent leather. Some dress strapmshoes were also done in white. The early 19th century styles were fairly uniform with the bar crossing the foot at about the instep. By the late 19th century strap shoes appeared wher the strap was higher up close to the ankle. Eventually styles emerged with the straps between thesetwo extremes. The width of the cross bar varied widely. We are not sure to what extent these shoes were worn by French boys after World war I. We note a lot of staged postcard images, but fewer actual photographs. The dressy type of strap shoe was called a "soulier". A French reader reports, "Souliers are dressy shoes worn for church on Sunday or other special occasions. This word is not very commonly used today. In the mid-20th century it was commonly used for expensive single bar and "T" strap patent leather shoes. It was also used for closed-toe sandals. For intance: one would say, " Un garçonnet avec de jolis souliers" that means that a little boy was well-dressed with his shoes. In France these shoes are still available, but often in specialty boutiques." The term for more ordinary shoes is "chaussures".
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As in England, after World War I (1914-18), French boys began to wear strap shoes as play shoes or sandaks. Unlike England, older boys comtinued to wear them into the 1930s and even the 1950s. Pictures of boys at school show French boys in both strap shoes and single "T" bar type school sandals. While English boys commonly wore the "T" bar type, onlt very small boys wore them without the "T"bar. The strap-shoe type sandal was mostly worn in the summer as was considered a casual shoe style much as we consider sandals or tennis shoes. It was not the most common shoe type, but in large group shots there are often some boys wearing various types of sandals--incliding strap shoes. I am not sure what color thecplay sandals came in. I think brown was the most common color, but this requires confirmation. I do not know if colores shoes were worn.
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