Early 20th Century - 1920's Pappagallo Shoes

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Arabella's Treasures

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I have just found these gorgeous little soft leather shoes and cannot quite date them. The heels make me think Edwardian, the uppers make me think a little later (1920's/30's). Pappagallo is printed I. Gold on the satin but has faded. I have had trouble finding the history of Pappagallo shoes apart from the fact they were ever so popular around 60's, but I can't find information on when they were established.
 

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Hi, I can see the dilemma. At first glance they do appear to be 1910s-20s but the more I look at them the less convinced I am they are original early 20thC. I wonder if they could be a particularly retro design from the early 60's when some unusual heel shapes had a brief appearance, cut outs were in fashion and this toe shape would fit.
Things that say later to me: unpainted sole, stitched through heel, grosgrain bound edge.
Could you show some more photos of the faded brand mark please? in daylight but shade would be best, although you can sometimes catch the gilding in the light to show it up better.
If you could also show the heel tip - it looks as though it may have a metal cap around it but I'm not sure.

The whole profile of the shoe seems a bit low cut for early 20th C to me, from the cut outs which would show the side of the foot, to the vamp which only just goes over the toes. Generally the earlier the shoe, the more of the foot it covers (for modesty really).
 
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Thank you. Right, so the more I look at the them the more I move right away from the 20's and 30's to the 50's. I bought them as 40's but didn't get that vine from them really. And I stupidly missed the name of the style inside.
 

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Thanks, having a style 'name' definitely puts them as later for me - I can't recall seeing that marked on the shoe before the 40's, they tended to be numbers before then.

I looked in Jonathan Walford's A-Z shoes and he wrote 'Earl Katz founded Encore in Rochester, New Hampshire, in 1963 to make espadrilles under the label Pappagallos'
It's not explicit whether this was the first use of that brand name, or whether Katz only made espadrilles at that time either. If Jonathan sees this thread he may be able to elaborate.
 
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For many years there was only one Pappagallo store and that was a half a block east of Fifth Ave., somewhere between East 50th and 56th on the north side of the street.

In the 1960s, I knew a lot of people and some of the names and jobs might have criss-crossed in the passing years. But as I recall, it was started by the Rasmussens, who ran it as husband and wife and worked like dogs, according to their daughter, Taine, who I dated a few times. There used to be a saying: What else would you wear with a Peck & Peck dress?

A few changes ago of the Google algorithm, you could find info on the store. It is still out there somewhere, where Google fears to go.

Well, I was wrong. The founders, though co-owners, were the Bandlers. The others could have been the Rasmussens, though I could find nothing about them, or their daughter, who was a debutante. The latter is important, because frequently when you find information about a debutante, the business of her parents is mentioned.

At least I got the husband and wife part right.

So, for the time being, the major figures, and the majority shareholders, are the Bandlers .
Some info is here: https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=giUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7214,4238792&hl=en
 
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The shoes look late 50s/early 60s - not an easy style to find from that period but they were popular at the time according to the fashion reports.
I am not surprised there is more than one Pappagallo shoe. It looks like the Bandlers called their company Pappagallo, while Katz called his line of shoes Pappagallo. If you want legal protection for your name you have to take it out for every possible industry use. The Bandlers probably trademarked the name for their company but not their lines of shoes.

There was a legal case recently when a breakfast cereal was called 'Haulin Oats', which sounds like the 80s pop group 'Hall and Oates'. It turns out that Hall and Oates had actually trademarked 'Haulin Oats'! Last I heard the case was about to be settled out of court.

Thanks for the info about Pappagallo company. If A-Z ever gets reprinted (which I doubt) I will make a correction.
 
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