Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy on an oval format studio cabinet card portrait wears a wide brimmed hat with intricate straw work, a Fauntleroy blouse, white floppy bow, bloomer knickers, long stockings, and hight-top lace-up shoes. He lppks to be about 5 years old. He is pictured on an early trike. Notice there are no handlebars or rubber wheels. The portrait is not dated, but the clothing and mount suggest the 1900s. His hair is done in short ringlets.

The high-top shoes, both have-ups and button shoes, that apperared after the mid-19th century were also commonly worn in the early-20th century as well, especially the 1900s and 10s. For much of this period, high-tops were more common than low-cut shoes. The photographic record clearly shows most school-age boys and many younger chidren wearing high top shoes during the 1900s. We see this in both studio photography and in the wealth of snapshots that suddenly spring up with the advent of the Kodak Brownie and similar cameras. If you look at a Sears or Wards catalog in the early 1900s you will see that there was a great variety in colors, style details, etc. in high top footwear. Ladies styles had higher heels than the men and looked a little 'fancier'. An author writes, "I have seen comments that you would be 'crazy' not to wear high top footwear during the winter." [Bolen] We begin to see more variety in children footwear during the 1900s. Barefoot sandals were introduced and we see many younger children, both boys and girls wearing strap shoes. The great bulk of American school-age children, however continued to wear high-top shoes. Modern depictions of children in fancy outfits like Fauntleroy suits often show them wearing strap shoes. This was actually not very common in the late-19th and very early-20th century When Fauntleroy suits and other outfits were he height of fashion. The same is true of sailor suits. Boys dressed up in these outfits commonly wore high-top shoes. The unidentified boy on the trike here is a good example (figure 1). The one difference was tunic suits. Boys tended to wear tunic suits in the 1900s with sandals and strap shoes or even go barefoot. At least with summer tunics, wearing high-top shoes with them was less common, although not unknown. Winter tunics suits were more commonly worn with high-top shoes. Charles Gana Gibson created the image of the Gibson Girl at the turn-of-th 20th century. Thuis was at the height of the high-button shoes rage. The Gibson girl was beautiful, independent and alluring creatures, but fully cloyhed from neck to toe. Her hair was usually dome in a high coif, a button blouse, a full skirt, high-button shoes and a corset underneath her clothes to achieve the trade mark hourglass figure. Theshoes were normally covered by a long skirt.

Sources

Bolen, Bill. Sandals, Mandals, and Mary Janes.

Created: 3:59 PM 8/18/2013
Last updated: 4:00 PM 8/18/2013