Collectors Weekly interviews shoe connoisseur Jonathan Walford

Yes, truly a wonderful interview, chockful of terrific info! Thanks for posting the link, Pam!

And--you have 700 pairs of shoes, Jonathan? :wow: :adore:

Also, I think your commentary on the high heel is the last word on the subject:

Aesthetically it’s a wonderful shoe to wear. Medically it’s not so great.
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Hearing that from a shoe connoisseur makes me feel a LOT less of a fashion transgressor for admiring but not wearing them myself!
 
Great article! I truly enjoyed reading it, and learned quite a bit as well.

Also, now I feel less guilty for not wearing the few pairs of vintage shoes I have kept for myself. Maybe they are the start of my collection . . . :)
 
What a great and super informative interview! :clapping:

I'm going to print that one out to save for reference.

Sarah
 
Its funny because they present the whole article in first person but not in quotes, so its not a transcript from our interview. I was paraphrased and there are some words I don't use in there, and a few of the facts are not quite right because of the editing. However, they are all small issues and overall I think it came off pretty well.
 
What a wonderful article that is! It made me want to rummage through your shoe collection and to hear more. It also brought to mind a few questions:

1) In what do you store your shoe collection? I have some in the original boxes, but I know that is not archivally correct.

2) In the article you said (we assume): "Walford: The boot went out of fashion at the end of the 1910s with the rising of the hemline. Women preferred to go to a shoe with the stocking rather than wearing a boot. There was one style that was popular in the 1920s called the Cossack boot. It was basically a pull-on boot. But those were really only popular for a short while, and women did not really wear boots again until the 1960s when mini skirts and go-go boots became popular." I read in a few places that boots were how flappers got that name...that they would walk around with their galoshes open and "flapping" so they began to be called "flappers." Do you know if that is true?

3) Are you scheduled to lecture in the US?
 
Lynne, to answer your queries:
1) I have most of my shoes in black photo memory boxes purchased from Michaels. They are acid free boxes and are usually on sale for about $3.00 per piece or less. In cases where I have the original box I do store the shoes in the original boxes but I wrap them in acid-free tissue first to buffer them from the highly-acidic cardboard boxes. For boots and oversize shoes, like platforms, that don't fit in the photo memory boxes I have them in largely boxes categorized by type, date, and colour, each wrapped in acid free. Here is a link to the boxes I buy (I buy plain black ones)
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sb0345&channelid=


2) I have heard and also repeat that story about the term 'flapper' and its connection to galoshes, however, I don't count galoshes as fashion boots because they are for foul weather wear. It was definately the fashion for collegiate aged women to wear their galoshes open to make a flapping sound, that much is for sure - I have seen pictures of women in the early 1920s doing just that. However, the term 'flapper' was well known by 1920 when a film about a precocious naive schoolgirl was released called The Flapper- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011193/
So I suspect wearing galoshes open was typical of the sort of behaviour a flapper (naive, precocious teenager) would do, but not the origin of the term.

3) I WISH! Nobody pays for guest lecturers.
 
Jonathan said:
Lynne, to answer your queries:
1) I have most of my shoes in black photo memory boxes purchased from Michaels. They are acid free boxes and are usually on sale for about $3.00 per piece or less. In cases where I have the original box I do store the shoes in the original boxes but I wrap them in acid-free tissue first to buffer them from the highly-acidic cardboard boxes. For boots and oversize shoes, like platforms, that don't fit in the photo memory boxes I have them in largely boxes categorized by type, date, and colour, each wrapped in acid free. Here is a link to the boxes I buy (I buy plain black ones)
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sb0345&channelid=


2) I have heard and also repeat that story about the term 'flapper' and its connection to galoshes, however, I don't count galoshes as fashion boots because they are for foul weather wear. It was definately the fashion for collegiate aged women to wear their galoshes open to make a flapping sound, that much is for sure - I have seen pictures of women in the early 1920s doing just that. However, the term 'flapper' was well known by 1920 when a film about a precocious naive schoolgirl was released called The Flapper- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011193/
So I suspect wearing galoshes open was typical of the sort of behaviour a flapper (naive, precocious teenager) would do, but not the origin of the term.

3) I WISH! Nobody pays for guest lecturers.
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I also bought black photo memory boxes from Michaels and I buy their multiple items at low prices through Micheal Promo Codes. If you want to save your money on your next Michaels shopping so check it out.
 
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