Figure 1.--Here we see a German boy on his first day of school. We believe in the early 1950s. He wears British-style t-strap school sandals. British boys, however, would not have worn them with white knee socks. |
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We note boys in many countries wearing closed-toe sandals during the 1950s. These seem to have been especially popular in England. They were worn in other countries as well, but often on a seasonal basis. There were very substantial differences among countruies, especially between America and European countries. Sandals seem quite popular in Europe, but much less so in America. The popularity of various styles varied from country to country as did gender conventions. Hoisuiery convebntions also varied by country. Here a factor was climate.
Wenote children in French colonial Algeria wearing different types of sandals following French styles. A good example is two boys wearing white sandals at school in 1953-54.
We note sandals being offered by the Sears catalog in the early 1950s. An example is the 1950 catalog. This was the double bar style which curiously onlt had a half center strap rather than the more common full center strap. While we see them in the catalogs, we do not see many American boys wearing them. I do not recall bots in the 50s wearing them nor do I note them in the photographic record.
We do not have much information about sandals in Canada. We do not think they were very popular. Here climate must have been a factor. We do notice a Quebec boy in 1959 wearing double bar sandals.
We note Danish boys wearing differebt styles of closed-toe sandals, both with and without socks, in 1955.
We do note that closed-toe sandals, especially school sandals were very common in England. The most popular style was the "T"-strap school sandal, but we also see double-strap sandals. They were also worn in Scotland.
We also see them worn in various European countries such as France and Germany. As in Britain, they were often worn to school. We also notice French boys wearing English style school sandals at school, we think n the early 1950s. They are not nearly as common as in Britain, but we notice a few boys French wearing them in many schools during the 1950s.
The most common style in most countries was the single bar with a center strap like the British school sandal. Here we see German boys on their first day of school in 1952. One wears closed-toe sandals in a rather adult style (figure 1). We note another German boy wearing this style of sandal, also probably in the early 1950s. We note another German boy at home wearing British-style "T"-strap sandals. We note a Kindergarten boy wearing double-bar closed-toe sandals about 1950.
We also notice many Dutch school children wearing sandals in the 1950s. A good example is a Dutch school class.
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