SHOES: FACORIES, COBBLERS, SHOPS, & THE TTLE FEATURES THEMSELVES

 

An old time shoe factory.

A fanciful image of a cobbler shop – perhaps in “Hobbiton” where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins lived?

Looks like this ‘shoe hospital’ did a lot more than just fix shoes.

That’s quite a stacking of old suitcases!  Cobblers took on more than shoes, of course.  Purses, belts, caps, aprons, suitcases, briefs - just about anything leather.

Today’s cobbler hard at work.

I remember as a child stepping up on that second step, shoving my shoe-covered feet into a hole, and looking down to see the bones of my feet inside my shoes.

The machines were known as fluoroscopes although different shoe stores had different names for them like ‘Ped-o-Scope’ or ‘Foot-o Scope’ or ‘Xray Shoe Fitter’.

When I was young I wore shoes like these.  I don’t know that they were Buster Browns, necessarily, but they were very much like this style.

By the time I was in 6^th grade I was wearing more fashionable shoes and by the time I hit Jr. and Sr. high schools I was wearing colorful flats purchased mostly with my babysitting money.  Most came from inexpensive shoe stores like Leeds and GallenKamps, but I did own this pair of Capezios I found in a thrift shop and still have today though they don’t fit anymore.  After carrying and birthing 3 children, my shoe size went up a notch. J

I also wore saddle oxfords in brown & white,

and white bucks complete with those little buck bags filled with white powder to keep them white.  Left a powdery mess on the floor.  At home I had to lay down a piece of newspaper before I was allowed to powder my bucks.

One of my favorite shoe stores.  They sold stylish shoes for affordable prices.

I wore a pair of heels from Leed’s very much like this duo.  As I recall, prices for shoes like these in the 1960s were around $6.99/$7.99.

I had a pair of black pumps similar to these which I bought at Joseph Magnin’s on a 50% off sale else I never could have afforded them.  They were Italian-made.  Unlike the nice but inexpensive shoes I bought at Leed’s, GallenKamps, and the like which, when the soles wore out, just had to be tossed, these shoes were made so well I was able to have them resoled at a Cobbler shop 6 times.  They paid for themselves over & over!

I really like spectator pumps and had a pair like these in navy blue & white.  I also had a pair in red and white but not quite like the ones below.

I would have killed (well not really) to have a pair of spectators like these!  However, it’s not likely I would have been shopping in a store where something like this was for sale! These shoes and the pairs that follow were not $6.99ers from Leeds!  But if I could have afforded them, I would have bought them!  I love different things like these.

Yet another form of spectator - saddle oxfords, this time in heels, and I know just the outfit I would have worn them with – a pleated skirt in a pale yellow/tan/cream plaid worn with a cream-colored sweater.  Oh yeah. J

I wouldn’t have had all that much to wear these with, but who cares. They’re so cute and they're yellow!  Probably just as well I couldn’t have afforded them.

Of course most everyone had to have a pair of Cinderella ‘glass’ slippers.  I had a pair very similar to this.

And here we are back to Capezios!  I have two pairs of this shoe – one with taps, and one without.  I got them for dancing with the Grub Gulch Garter Girls in the 1970s.  I still have them but haven’t done much chorus line dancing lately. J  I should probably give them away.  But I don’t know?  There are fun classes for old lady tap dancers.  Maybe I should find one?

Today I mostly wear two styles of shoes.  ‘Moccasins’ like these in several different colors: white, beige, black, navy blue, light blue, red, pink, gray, & medium brown.  I wish I had gotten the lavender & light green when they were available, but Dr. Scholes no longer makes this style of shoe.  At least I can’t find them anywhere except on Ebay and since I wear a very popular size, there’s no luck there.  Oh well.

And then there are my sandals for warm weather – again, in several different colors including white, beige, black, light blue, red, pink, & emerald green.  For a limited time there was a really pretty peachy-orange color which I wish I’d ordered, but I had to stop somewhere!

And my Huarache sandals in 3 different colors: antique tan, turquoise, & navy blue.

Obviously I’m a total shoe aficionado, but from now on I intend for all of these more recent shoes to last me for the rest of my life.  The sandals especially as they’re very well made.  But, we’ll see . . . 

:-> 

La Nightingail