Buckle shoes

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I think, my taste, I prefer these to the patent leather with the lower buckle! Maybe even to the ghillie for all around.

Technically speaking, wouldn't they be more traditional than even the pumps? They would have been circa 17th and 18th centuries?

Certainly in the mid-to-late 18th century gentlemen would have worn pumps, sometimes called slippers. Generally speaking a gentleman would remove his boots and slip on his pumps when entering a friends home to avoid tracking in mud and muck. Because shoes were "blacked" (a mixture of tallow and soot) a gentleman would also slip into his (lacquered) pumps for an evening of dancing, out of consideration for the shoes (and feet) of his partner.

Both shoes are now considered "traditional" for evening wear, although for dancing many gentlemen still prefer pumps. When I am next in Oregon I intend to have a pair of very light buckle and strap shoes made for wearing to Highland balls.