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 6th
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
Oh the wonderful old mall shoe stores! And the shoe departments in the big box stores (where bargains could be found!) But the best came from shoe departments in the department stores, I think. Your collection is quite different from mine, actually. Working on my feet for years meant I chose comfortable styles vs stylish shoes.
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate this post even though I don't have that many shoes. However recently on holiday to England I bought a pair of walking/hiking shoes that I liked so much I bought a second pair just to have a replacement when eventually the first pair wear out. Sadly good shoe repair people have mostly disappeared.
ReplyDelete