Figure 1.--Here we see a little boy about 1-year old. He has not yet been breeched and wears two-bar strap shoes. These multiple straps shoes were a common dress style for very young childern. Older children usually wore high-top shoes. The portrait is undated, but was ptobably taken about 1870. The photographer was P. Spring in Bruchsal Germany. We at first thought it was Bruchbal, but a German reader tells us that it is Bruchsal. Bruchsal is located in south-west Germany. A German reader tells us, "The portrait might be from from 1870, but also a little later somewhere in the 1870s."

The classic strap shoe is a one bar instep strap. There were, however, a variety of other styles. We note many strap shoes in the late 19th century with multiple straps. These were usually two-bar shoes, but we have seen these shoes with three or more bars, normally without a supporting center strap. One of the problems in assessing these shoes is that there was no one defined term to describe them. Some catalogs used the term sandals. Today the term sandal has the commotation of an informal play shoe. This was not the case in the 19th century. The difference between strap shoe and sandal is difficult to delineate. We have generally used the term strap shoe for a formal shoe while shoes of a similar design for play or casual wear we have used the term sandal. Notably the two srap shoe with a center supporting strap became more of a play shoe and thus we refer to it as a sandal.

Number of Straps

Strap shoes are best known as as footwear with one horizontal strap. These one-strap shoes became known as Mary Janes in the United States. They were not all done as single-strap shoes. We see strap shoes done with a different number of straps. One and two straps were, however, by far the most common, but there were also shoes with multiple staps. This was most common in the late 19th and early 20-th centuries before shoe styles became more stanfardized. Another complication is a center verical bar. Analizing these shoes is complicated by all the different variants as well as the mutiple terms for these shoes, such as sandals and slippers.

Chronology

A reader writes, "I believe the photo is of a boy in the latter half of the 19th century. [HBC would guess about 1870.] Notice the boy's strap shoes. This looks to be a formal version of the two-bar closed toe sandal. There are definitely two bars which appear to be fastened on both sides of each strap (I don't think I've seen this before). There appears to be a faint indication of a center t-strap, or it may be discoloration on the photo--hard to tell." We are not yet entirely sure about the chronology of these multiple strap shoes. We only note single strap shoes in the early 19th century, but in the late-19th century we note many different shoes with multiple straps. They may have appeared in the 1860s, but we are not yet sure.

Terminology

One of the problems in assessing these shoes is that there was no one defined term to describe them. Some catalogs used the term sandals. Today the term sandal has the commotation of an informal play shoe. This was not the case in the 19th century. The difference between strap shoe and sandal is difficult to delineate. We have generally used the term strap shoe for a formal shoe while shoes of a similar design for play or casual wear we have used the term sandal.

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Created: 5:45 PM 8/22/2005
Last updated: 7:31 PM 8/18/2007