“… Never have the shops made it easier to select dazzlingly beautiful slippers to complete the Christmas and New Year’s formal costume.” — Lucile Babcock in The Delineator magazine, December, 1928, p. 61.
Top of article, “Dancing Data,” by Lucile Babcock, The Delineator; Dec. 1928.
Elegant shoes were featured in The Delineator in November of 1928, too. (Click here for shoes by Vionnet’s husband.) All these dancing shoes are made of fabric — fragile but practical, since fabric shoes don’t usually need to be “broken in.”
(A) is made of gold brocade trimmed with soft gold leather. (B) is “dramatic with gold kid and gayest embroidery.” Dancing shoes, December 1928, Delineator.
(C) is “ready-to-dye” crepe de Chine fabric. (D) is “silver and white brocade which may be dyed.” Dancing shoes, Dec. 1928, Delineator.
“There is paisley brocade, as gorgeous in its many colors as a Persian shawl, which chooses to collaborate with gold kid heels and straps — a vivid lovely accent for a white or off-white evening frock.”
(E) Gold or silver brocade dancing shoes from Arch Preserver. (F) Crepe de Chine pump made by Delman. Dancing shoes, Delineator, Dec. 1928.
“Gold or silver brocade twinkling with rhinestone buckles has elaborate new tendencies in plaided or flowered designs, and is as glamorous as the fabled slippers of the fairy tale.”
(G) “Persian brocade and silver kid. Dance magic!” (H) Black velvet with scarlet satin inserts. Dancing shoes, Delineator, Dec. 1928.
“The suave beauty of velvet has a dozen new guises and disguises when it appears on the dance program. Embroidered, painted in flamboyant colors, moired or inlaid with satin in some fanciful arabesque, the velvet slipper adds an ornate look to the simple, stately, monotone frock of velvet or satin.”
(I) is labelled “Red and gold paisley brocade” but clearly is not. (J) says “Rhinestones sparkle on the strap of this pump.” Dancing shoes, Dec. 1928.
If you don’t know the online shoe museum called “Shoe-Icon” — based in Russia — it has a large, well illustrated collection and an excellent library of shoe trademarks. You can search for shoe designers by name or by trademark. (Translate into English by clicking at upper right of screen.) Shoes by the designers in this article are well-represented.
The shoes illustrated in this article came from I. Miller & Sons, J. & T. Cousins (click here for a very similar shoe — in color — at the Shoe-Icons site. ), Laird Schober & Co. (click here for a brocade shoe by Laird Schrober with rhinestoned heel, at Shoe-Icons,) Delman (Shoe-Icon shows many Delman shoes — click here), and Arch Preserver. (“Arch Preserver ” and “Foot Saver” shoes, advertised for comfort, were nevertheless sometimes very attractive. The brocade one shown above (E) has a slightly thicker heel than the others.
Woman’s Shoe from a Foot Saver ad, Feb. 1929.
Day shoe from Arch Preserver, June 1929. Delineator.
It reminded me of this I. Miller evening shoe:
I really like 1920’s shoes. They are usually beautiful and wearable (not too high) — and flattering. The thin straps that kept them on even during a Charleston are often a color that blends with the wearer’s stockings or legs — gold, tan, silver, bronze, etc. — so that the strap doesn’t visually “cut” the leg at the ankle. (See the white shoe with tan strap, above.)
Israel Miller’s shoes were worn by fashionable women from the early 1900’s through the 1960’s. Andy Warhol was a shoe illustrator for I. Miller & Co. ads in the 1950’s. The Historialist wrote about the Warhol shoe ads here.
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