Shoe of the Month-Shoe Stories

Shoe Stories

Our shoes are very personal to us. Not only do we shape them by wearing them. But shoes also shape us and how we feel in them. Shoes can also tell stories about what we have done and where we have been. We keep them as reminders of certain moments in our lives.

When people donate shoes to the collection we are always interested in their personal stories and memories. Here is Irene’s story about her amazing shoes by designer Terry de Havilland.

‘These are my Boing Boing shoes! One day we were passing the Terry de Havilland boutique. The Zebedee shoes were in the window and I could not take my eyes off them! It was not just because they were fantastically unusual, but they were also so elegant, beautifully made and – most importantly – wearable. I knew instinctively that they were very special and I just had to have them!’

Boing Boing Shoes

 

Shoe of the Month-Red is a Powerful Colour

Red is a powerful colour

In the month we celebrate Valentine’s day we may not this year have the opportunity to doll up and dine out, but we can still dress up at home, perhaps in these Robert Clergerie designed velvet peep toe court shoes from about 1995. 

Red has always been a significant and powerful colour, in part down to the expense involved in obtaining the natural red dye derived from cochineal scale insets found in South America

Red is often been associated with love and passion but has also been worn to convey contrasting messages at different times and in different cultures. Red shoes were the prerogative of Roman senators and later the Emperor King Louis XIV of France adopted red as the colour of nobility. He covered his wooden heels in red leather to indicate status and wealth. In China, red bridal shoes are thrown on the roof of the newly married couple’s home to ensure happiness and a long marriage.

Contemporary examples include Dorothy’s ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz, which were essential for her to fly home to Kansas and the demonic red ballet shoes that lead Vicky the main character in The Red Shoes, to her death.

Red Shoes

Shoe of the Month-Valenki

Valenki are traditional Russian footwear worn in the winter months. The boots are made from sheep’s wool and manufacturing takes a couple of days, with most of it still done by hand.

The raw wool is prepared and a special machine helps to make the non woven wool fabric into rolls. The Valenki makers then make a stocking which is several times larger than the final boot, which is boiled to make the fabric denser. The boot is then shaped over a wooden form and left to dry.

Valenki are not water-resistant but are good for wearing on dry snow when the weather is cold and frosty. Their soles can wear out quickly and are sometimes soled with leather or rubber, but many people simply buy a new pair each year.

This children’s pair from 2000 have a leaf design on the leg.

Valenki Boots

Shoe of the Month-Wishing you a Boot-iful Time

Wishing you a boot-iful time Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is home to one of the largest collections of shoes and shoe heritage in the world. The collection’s strength lies in its very broad range, from Ancient Egypt to the latest fashions, from workwear to high-end designer creations and from Northamptonshire-made shoes to footwear from around the world. But we don’t just collect shoes. The scope of the collection covers accessories including buckles and laces, shoehorns, shoe trees, spats and polish, shoemaking tools and machines, catalogues, trade journals and photographs and paintings and prints depicting shoes and shoemaking. This postcard shows a well-worn pair of boots which are not the most Christmassy of images, but perhaps because they are very well worn, they symbolise the wearer’s very essence, strength and luck, attributes that can be positively passed to others. So, the sender of this postcard is sending the recipient lots of luck, hope and strength for the future. Unfortunately, the card was never written on so sadly we don’t know who it was for.

Christmas Postcard 1910

Shoe of the Month-Military Efforts

Military efforts

Remembrance Day on November 11, 2020, also known as Armistice Day, marks 102 years since the end of the First World War. People in Northampton and Northamptonshire have specialised in making shoes for hundreds of years. Their shoemaking reputation as producers of good quality men’s footwear and military footwear was sealed in 1648 when shoemaker Thomas Pendleton obtained a contract for 2,500 shoes to be made for Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentary army going to Ireland in 1649. The United Kingdom manufactured about 70 million pairs of boots and shoes for the Allied armies during the First World War, and 50 million of these were made in Northamptonshire. This 1914-18 British Army boot. Regulation No 2, Eton Balmoral boot, was manufactured by Simon Collier Ltd, Harlestone Road, Northampton. They boasted that the two million boots they made would stretch in line toe to heel from Northampton to Edinburgh.

British Army Boot 1914-1918

Shoe of the Month-In The Pink

In the pink

In the pink Pink is a controversial colour evoking strong feelings of attraction and revulsion. Before the late 1600s, pink was often ignored in favour of shades of red and there was no word in the English language to properly describe it. During the 1700s in France, pink was a fashionable ‘new’ colour and was worn by both men and women as a sign of taste and class. This pair of women’s pale pink silk damask buckle latchet shoes are from the 1740s. From around 1660 highly decorative shoe buckles were worn, first by men with women adopting them later, perhaps because their shoes were hidden beneath long skirts. Buckles then became the prevailing style until the time of the French Revolution of 1789. Another feature of women’s shoes at this time was the white kid-leather rand. The rand is the narrow strip of leather that sits between the upper and sole. It was easier for shoemakers to sew the delicate upper to the soft leather rand first and then sew the rand to the sole.

women’s buckle latchet shoes

Shoe of the Month-Back to School!

Back to School!

September heralds the start of the new school year and a new pair of school shoes.

Clarks have been well known for their children’s shoes for years. Even today Clarks are a reliable place to go and get your child’s feet measured and come home with a ‘proper’ pair of shoes.

Clarks began advertising children’s shoes back in the 1930s. This was quickly followed by them introducing a choice of width fittings for their children’s shoe range and the first ever Clarks foot gauge – two innovations which became a benchmark in the care of growing feet.

This pair are a classic Velcro bar strap from 2003. Called Tittle Tattle some styles never change that much at all.

Clarks Shoes

Shoe of the Month-Animals Wear Shoes Too

Animals Wear Shoes Too

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the book All Creatures Great and Small. First published in 1970 James Herriot’s enchanting memoirs were based on his veterinary practice in a small Yorkshire town. They became so popular they were turned into a TV series.

We have a small collection of animal shoes including boots for horses and dogs, a cow shoe and an elephant boot. They were all worn to protect the animals in different situations.

This is a rubber Wellington for a sheep. It was made by Dunlop in 1946. Sheep sometimes wore wellington boots to stop them getting diseases which could be caught from wet pastureland.

Animal Shoe

Shoe of the Month-Summer Sandals

Summer Sandals

A sandal is a style that has a sole with straps, thongs or a toe knob to hold it on the foot. They are recognised as the earliest form of footwear. Early examples were relatively simple creations made from the natural materials available. Recycling materials is a great way of producing hardwearing and cheap shoes. Recycling discarded rubber tyres is common in many countries including India and Ethiopia. As has been often said ‘old truck tyres never die, they just get turned into sandals.’

This pair of rubber toe thong style sandals consist of straps and a toe loop to help keep them on the foot. The tyre tread is still visable on the sole. They were purchased in 1992 from a roadside stall in Nirona, Gujarat, India for 7 rupees.

Summer Sandals

Shoe of the Month-Anyone for Tennis?

Anyone for Tennis?

Although Wimbledon is cancelled this year, we can take a nostalgic walk down memory lane with this pair of Dunlop Green Flash trainers. Today Dunlop are famous for making tyres but had been making rubber soled shoes for sport from the 1870s. From the 1930s they were making tennis shoes. British World No. 1 tennis player Fred Perry wore Dunlop tennis shoes and won the Wimbledon men’s title three times in succession between 1934 and 1936. The next British player to win Wimbledon was Andy Murray in 2013. This pair are from the 1970s.

Dunlop Tennis Shoe

 

Dunlop Tennis Shoes