Black lace vinyl and suede peep toe shoes

[Pinkcoke]

Here are the shoes that were wrongly advertised as celluloid; I'm disappointed they're not but pleased they're much better in hand than in the pictures I saw!
I think they're 1940's but not sure whereabouts - not wartime I would think as the heels are quite high and the soles are leather (though worn through to the stitching at one point - so maybe worn through the war?) but overall I get a late 40's feeling rather than earlier. Confused as they're so much more decorative than any I've seen. I love the fact it's real lace in there - not printed as I originally thought. It looks moulded (or melted in) rather than sandwiched.
I don't know much about the Benefit shoe company as there's plenty of history on them but it dies off before the 1940's I've only seen one advert from the 1920's with everyday women's black shoes.

 

[zannew]

Love those shoes! Just darling and so unique!

 

[retro ruth]

Those are very VERY cool.

 

[Jonathan]

They are from the late 40s or really early 50s, not later than 52 and not earlier than 45. It is really impossible to be any more accurate than that because that style of heel with open toe and high-cut throat is produced throughout that period, although clear vinyl shoes are typically more popular after 1951 they are around before hand. Actually, Joan Crawford like them because she was a germaphobe and could wash her shoes.
The bonded cellulose insole is the insole underneath the grey sock lining you see - it's glued or bonded, and pressed into a bendable cardboard - usually used on cheaper shoes.