Figure 1.--This casbinet card studio portrait shows an unidentified French boy. He is wearing a swhire short pnts sailor suit with knee socks and strap shoes. The portrait is undated, but we woild guess was taken about 1920.

Strap shoes seem especially common in France. We have only limited chronological information at this time. In particular we have little information on 19th century France. Our French 19th century archive is especially weak. We know much more about America. This of course is interesting because France was very important in the development of photography. You might have thought that it would be in France that most 19th century photographs were taken. But they were not. It was in America that the largest number of early images are found. What has proven important is not where the technology was developed, but where the population had the purchasing power to afford a studio portrait. And remember that in 1840 when the photographic industry was launched, the American population was still quite limited. It was the booming American economy that put purchasing power in the hands of the average consumer, leading to the huge numbers of Americans had studio portraits taken. Less so in France. What little we know is that while heavy high-top shoes were nearly universal for both boys and girls in the late-19th and early-20th century, this was somewhat less true in France. Strap shoes were an important part of the low-cut footwear worn by some French children. We have more information on the 20th century. And we see French children wearing strap shoes in the 20tyh century, especially the first half of the century.

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Created: 12:42 AM 3/8/2023
Last updated: 12:42 AM 3/8/2023