Guest Author - Norma Shephard

During the Depression, a desire for escapism brought new emphasis to the silver screen and to the fashions portrayed there. Lengthened hemlines required that camera shots include the feet of actors and actresses, shod in footwear the public would soon imitate. Buyers responded to advertising copy that suggested a diversion from economic woes. Magazines and catalogues carried shoe sketches alongside tag lines like “snap and dash”, “endorsed by Dame Fashion”, and “suggesting the gay witchery of a summer day”.

Madeleine Vionett’s invention of the bias-cut enabled dressmakers to create gowns with elasticity and cling, ideal for dancing. During the evening, flared and handkerchief hemlines rested above the ankle to show off round-toed pumps with high vamps, while daywear required a more masculine shoe in keeping with the wide-legged trousers, beach pyjamas, and scandalous new shorts of the decade.

More and more, buckles replaced buttons on bar and t-strap dress shoes, even as two-eyelet ties in suede and calf combinations prevailed for daywear. By 1933, three-button, strapped shoes, while still available, were subtly marketed to out-of-date matrons. One pair, offered in Eaton’s catalogue for nearly double the price of patent leather pumps, boasted “extra room for enlarged joints or bunions.” The style went by the name “Aunt Mary.”

On the street and at the office, pumps gained popularity over lace-ups; although, bow-trimmed, low-heeled dress shoes and ribbon-tied bluchers were offered for comfort. T-strap fabric sandals with covered Cuban heels, kept toes cool in summer through mesh vamps or braided leather. These were offered in white, blue, tan, and awning stripe. Colored leather shoes first introduced by designer Dan Palter, gained widespread approval.

The arch of the foot was emphasized through decorative (sometimes twin) tongues and center-buckle straps. Ribbon trims and top-stitching competed with pin-dots and punched leather for eye appeal. Tanned feet and painted toenails were exposed in strappy sandals and open-toed pumps. The peep-toes, designed by Dan Palter and first marketed at Palter-Deliso, shocked the shoe-buying public at first, but by 1936 even Queen Elizabeth, wife of Britain’s King George VI, was enchanted by them; so much so, that she commissioned Perugia to make her a pair for a state visit to Paris.

Ladies’ house shoes in combinations of leather and canvas or velveteen, sold for half the price of dress shoes, but slightly more than the cost of leather slippers. High-cut lace-ups described as “neat” and “comfortable” served as work boots, for women labouring “around the house and outdoors.”

By mid-decade, designers produced sober, round-toed pumps with high vamps that covered the instep, to complement the longer, bias-cut dresses which had replaced the flapper silhouette. Thick 3-inch heels were referred to as “spikes”.

By 1938, the most fashionable laced day shoes sported enlarged “wedding ring” or “balloon” eyelets. These sold for five to ten dollars per pair. That same year, slender-heeled evening slippers of gold or silver fabric, cut low on the sides to reveal the instep, could be purchased for $2.79. In some cases that price included mail delivery charges.

Flat-heeled calfskin and patent leather shoes for girls imitated those designed for women, and carried names like “the Peasant Shoe”, “the Swagger”, and “the Shawl-tongued Oxford”. Some children’s shoes c.1935, were packed in little green suitcases which proud owners used to carry doll clothes or school lunches.

Vintage examples of the shoes of this period add personality and authenticity to any collection of 1930s costume and can still be found at flea markets, antiques outlets, and online auction sites. To see examples of this iconic footwear or learn more abut shoe history see my book “In Step with Fashion; 200 Years of Shoe Styles”.