ARTICLE # 20 - BEAUTIFUL SHOES

I am one of those women obsessed with shoes. I personally own well over 100 pair (nearly all are vintage). I do not own them just to wear. As a matter of fact I wear very few. I own my shoes because I adore them. To me they are works of art. Years ago I came across a pair of stunning black satin mules, circa 1940s by Daniel Green. They had an open toe and the vamp was decorated with bronze Chinese frogs. They were gorgeous and much too small for me but I had to have them. To this day I keep them on my bureau purely as decoration and enjoy their beauty as much as I would a fine piece of porcelain.

Beautiful, couture level shoes are VERY expensive and after researching how they are made, the cost is understandable. When I first developed a taste for couture footwear there was NO WAY I could spend my family’s monthly food allowance on one pair of shoes. It was the late 1980s and I yearned for Maude Frizon pumps and John Fluevog boots but it just was not in the budget.

I could however splurge (now and then) on vintage 50s Delman spikes or peep toe snake skin Troylings at my local vintage shop. I loved the smooth leather linings and exquisite materials AND the higher heels did not hurt my feet the way cheaper, modern shoes did. I have since learned a lot about fine shoes and will share a bit of what I have learned.

There are over 100 steps that go into the making a pair of shoes. It all starts with a last which is the basic form that the shoe is molded over. Lastmaking is a highly skilled craft. Fit and esthetics are the primary concern and given the complicated structure of the foot this is quite a task. For a proper fit there are many concerns. Will the toe box be roomy enough not to cramp the front of the foot? Is the shank curved properly to meet the arch correctly? Does the heel placement shift the weight of the body off the ball of the foot? Is the heel cradled properly by the quarter of the shoe? Imagine satisfying all of these requirements and then creating a shoe that is beautiful as well!

Once the last has been perfected it is time to create the pattern and cut the materials. The finest shoes are hand cut so that all the leather pieces can be custom beveled, thereby creating a smooth joint when stitched. If you look at couture shoes the seams are so fine there is almost no ridge. This cannot be achieved as well with machine cutting.

The construction of the shoe itself has many steps. They include stitching of the upper pattern pieces (vamp) which is then hand molded over the last. The shoe must stay on the last for two weeks for it to properly mold to shape. The toe box and heel need to be created and the insole, linings and soles added. The throat or opening of the shoe must be finished off esthetically. All embellishment to the leathers surface is done prior to molding. Finally the shoe needs to be polished and buffed. All of these steps require great skill and the finest work is done painstakingly by hand with very little help from machinery.

Only the best materials go into better shoes. Soft, fine analine leathers with costly dye treatments that create transparent colored, glazes so you could see the leather texture. Real silk satins and brocades. Brass grommets. The finest glass beads and crystal rhinestones. Smooth leather linings and soles (so the foot can breath). The end result is a stunning bit of footwear that one can actually walk in.

Even modest range vintage shoes tend to be better made todays average shoe. It is only in the last 20 years or so that the quality of footwear has gone down so drastically. Now there is little or no hand work involved. Leathers are cheap and linings are plastic. How the shoe fits does not even seem to be a concern in most fashion footwear. Heels fall off and shoes fall apart in just a few weeks.

Though we may understand why fine shoes are so expensive, that is small comfort to those of us who yearn for, but cannot afford to buy them! I know there are tons of cheap mass produced shoes on the market today and yes some of them are very cute. BUT they in no way compare to hand made, fine footwear. Once you get a taste for the best it is Sooo… hard to go back. FORTUNATELY for those of us who (still) cannot spend the months grocery budget on one pair of shoes there will always be vintage!

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