Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
We are not yet sure about the origins of the double-bar sandals. We have begun to collect some basic information on the subject. We had thought that these twin-bar sandals were a natural evolution from the strap shoes we note children wearing in the 19th century. A HBC readers is not convinced of this and believes that European immigrants may have played a major role in the evolution of this style.
We have traced the double bar t-strap sandal using catalogs back to 1910. we have seen them advertised for "All the family" in the Newark Evening News, Newark, N.J., during the period 1900 to 1905, although we, unfortunately, did not make any copies of the ads at the time. It appears that from the earliest time in this country they were called "Barefoot Sandals". I assume this was because they were much cooler and lighter than the heavy high top shoes in vogue at the time. Or because they open more of the foot to the air than a regular shoe.
The hypothesis that the style "evolved" from single or double bar strap shoes cannot be substantiated from evidence I have seen to date. I believe I read that single bar strap shoes were "invented" by Francis I of France, and became very popular during the Renaissance (images of Henry VIII, Columbus, etc.) I have also seen single bar t-strap shoes in paintings from the 1600s--I believe from warmer southern European areas. The single, double, and multiple bar strap shoes appear in numerous photos in the 1800s, and appear in catalogs during the 1900s almost unchanged. They were called sandals, however, since they were open on top.
A HBC reader has noted twin-bar sandals referred to in catalogs as Bulgarian sandals. We are not sure why this style of sandal was referred to as Bulgarian sandals, but it suggests Bulgarian origins to the style. The earliest ads we have noted refer to "barefoot sandals"> These references to Bulgaria disaapear after the 1920s.
We are not sure about the origins of the twin-bar sandals.
Nor or we sure about the origins of other styles of sandals such as the "T"-strap sandal so commonly worn by British boys. We had thought that the two were essentially connected and being of primarily British origins. A reader writes, "After looking at several thousand images from US and abroad, I cannot find any evidence that the style originated in the UK, in spite of the fact that it is often called an ":English Sandal". I believe this latter name came later when British prep school boys (and
girls) began wearing them in the 30s, 40s, and 50s."
A HBC reader writes of the origins of of the twin-bar sandal with a center strap.He writes, "My hypothesis is that the style came to North Anmerica with immigrants about 1900, probably from people who lived in the area of the old Roman province of Dacia or modern Bulgaria. I am centering my research on Bulgaria. where the style is currently shown as part of peasants' costume. It is also referred to as "tsurvouli" and was also used by Bulgarian soldiers. I'm going to try to attach a picture and a Bulglarian history writeup. I am assuming the tsurvouli came from a Roman style, but maybe it's Slavic in origin."
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