Museums/Hidden Treasures

[amandainvermont]

The video on THIS LINK shows more.


I would love to hear what Jonathan thinks about these EARLY shoes. They slip out of the holder(?).

and an early pair (40’s?) of Ferragamos.

Also -

I am from New Canaan, CT., originally and while trying to track down a one-room schoolhouse there I read this information about the local historical society.

“Although there are no exhibits at the present time, the Society houses the largest collection of traditional wardrobes of the 18th and 19th centuries in Connecticut.”

I’d like to be around when they get that collection out to look over.

 

[Jonathan]

The Ferragamos I can't really see but they look 1930s to me, not 40s, the first pair of shoes are English, early 18th century, 1720 - 1735 would be my guess. The clogs are not original to the shoes - they were from another pair of shoes of the same period but with a lower heel - they should fit snugly into the waist of the sole of the shoe and when they are covered with silk, they should ideally match the silk of the shoe.

 

[lkranieri]

Jonathan,

I defer to your shoe expertise, but aren't those protective overshoes called pattens? If not, what exactly is the difference (as they seem to call them clogs here, too).

Ah, never mind. I see that the link I gave answers that! I saw those same things called pattens on so many other sites that I was confused.

 

[Jonathan]

The English call this type of patten a clog because it uses a wooden block for the rise of the heel (a clog is made from a block of wood...) These are typically only used in England to protect the heel from sinking into muck and mud. Pattens are iron ring elevated wooden soles typically used in urban centres where there is a paved surface, otherwise the iron rings cuts into the mud of an unpaved street and lodges the wearer, so the two names were used to differentiate between the two styles of overshoes. In Europe, the English type of clog was not used because higher class women didn't walk in muddy unpaved roads with high heeled shoes. Their life was more urban, and when rural locations were visited they donned low-heeled shoes. If you have a copy of my book Seductive Shoe, there is a pic of a pair of French low heeled shoe, as well as examples of the English clog and a variant type of clog/patent from a German source. It is all relevant to the lifestyles of the wealthy of the early 18th century. Once you get to the 1760s, there is a massive building program of streets and sidewalks in English cities and towns that eventually render the use of clogs unecessary. Continental cities, where the elite lived, had been paved since the Renaissance, so England was behind the times in terms of paving due to their agricultural based economy until the Industrial Revolution which began in the mid 18th century.