Buckle Shoes

[JSFMACLJR]

Ted,
One option you might consider is to purchase a pair of patent evening pumps (Brooks Brothers sells them, as do a number of other places) and have your cobbler remove the bow and substitute a buckle. Perfectly acceptable, and cheaper, I think, than buying a pair of buckled court shoes from Ede & Ravenscroft.

[Bugbear]

You can always think outside the box a bit and shop around at some reenactment suppliers, such as James Townsend & Sons.

They have 18th century style buckle shoes for $90.

You have to attach your own buckle (which they also sell, a few different styles from $20 to $50). And these are made in 18th century fashion, which means they are straight lasted (no difference between right and left).

So I doubt they would be quite as comfy as a modern shoe, but they certainly would have an authentic look and the price is much lower than what you'd pay for a buckle brogue at most Highland dress suppliers.

Thanks for posting that link, Matt.

Actually, those were the shoes I was talking about as the replica shoes. I saw a post that said they were fairly comfortable. I just didn't know if they had an acceptable finnish: glossy.

Perhaps spit shining...

[Bugbear]

Ted,

Well, shiny in the sense we think of it today probably would not have been available in the 18th century. A lot, maybe most, of those shoes were made with the flesh (rough) side out and the the leather itself was "stuffed" with lanolin and oil...which would have further confounded any attempt to polish them. Additionally, the leather was coloured with the black residue (the soot) that accumulated in oil lamps of the period.

Such leathers can be made shiny (very shiny) but it was done with sizing (something very like wallpaper paste). The sizing was rubbed in very thoroughly while it was wet, allowed to dry slightly, and then burnished up to a high shine with bones or hardwood sticks.

This technique was common throughout the 18th and 19th century.

What with the chimney black and the sizing it was a very dirty job. Which is why gentlemen always employed a servant to polish their boots.

That's funny, DWFII. I use a similar technique to burnish clay with a polished stone,and some other things , so I understand exactly what you are talking about.

Thanks.

[Dall_Piobaire]

Phil, I like those brogues, they have less that "Mary Jane" look!

The shiny shiny look, always be wondering if someone was looking up ma kilt!!! Just don't care for it! It must have been a military addition!

There used to be a Gedney Godwin in MA who did accurate 18th cenutry stuff, all the way down to clay pipes, is he still around?

[Bugbear]

Ted,
One option you might consider is to purchase a pair of patent evening pumps (Brooks Brothers sells them, as do a number of other places) and have your cobbler remove the bow and substitute a buckle. Perfectly acceptable, and cheaper, I think, than buying a pair of buckled court shoes from Ede & Ravenscroft.

Thank you; I will look into patent evening pumps.

[Dall_Piobaire]

That, somehow just sounds so wrong! :-D

[DWFII]

Thanks for posting that link, Matt.

Actually, those were the shoes I was talking about as the replica shoes. I saw a post that said they were fairly comfortable. I just didn't know if they had an acceptable finnish: glossy.

Perhaps spit shining...

Ted,

I'm going to put a bug in your ear...and anyone else who is following along...

Don't take someone else's endorsement of comfort as scripture. In the first place, our feet are far better able to accommodate themselves to oddly shaped confinements, and uncalled-for insults, when we are young.

Secondly, some people are far more tolerant of what others might call pain...this is known as the pain threshold and in some folks it is set higher than in others. Some people can actually wear...without obvious discomfort...shoes that do not fit their feet in any wise, do it for years, never complain, until one day all the unseen abuse adds up and suddenly the body rebels and they become dern near crippled.

I'm not saying these shoes you are looking at will automatically be uncomfortable. But buying a pair of shoes is not like buying a shirt or even a kilt. If shoes don't fit they can cripple...just as an improper job of shoeing a horse can cripple it.

Oh! and if the period shoes are historically correct they will almost certainly not be glossy.

[Disclaimer: I do not make historically correct shoes but one of my best friends (seen in a couple photos in my picture album here on Xmarks) is the head shoemaker (and head of the shoemaking department) at Colonial Williamsburg...and that's all they do make. I might add that he is also recognized as the foremost authority on the history of shoes in the US. So I take my cure from him. ]

[Bugbear]

That, somehow just sounds so wrong! :-D

Eham! Patent evening pumps for gentalmen...

[Dall_Piobaire]

Just keep in mind what we used to do with the girls who wore the Mary Janes in school, keep a wary on the ladies!

[Bugbear]

Ted,

I'm going to put a bug in your ear...and anyone else who is following along...

Don't take someone else's endorsement of comfort as scripture. In the first place, our feet are far better able to accommodate themselves to oddly shaped confinements, and uncalled-for insults, when we are young.

Secondly, some people are far more tolerant of what others might call pain...this is known as the pain threshold and in some folks it is set higher than in others. Some people can actually wear...without obvious discomfort...shoes that do not fit their feet in any wise, do it for years, never complain, until one day all the unseen abuse adds up and suddenly the body rebels and they become dern near crippled.

I'm not saying these shoes you are looking at will automatically be uncomfortable. But buying a pair of shoes is not like buying a shirt or even a kilt. If shoes don't fit they can cripple...just as an improper job of shoeing a horse can cripple it.

Oh! and if the period shoes are historically correct they will almost certainly not be glossy.

[Disclaimer: I do not make historically correct shoes but one of my best friends (seen in a couple photos in my picture album here on Xmarks) is the head shoemaker (and head of the shoemaking department) at Colonial Williamsburg...and that's all they do make. I might add that he is also recognized as the foremost authority on the history of shoes in the US. So I take my cure from him. ]

I understand what you're saying, DWFII. I've had to wear shoes that didn't fit well,. Thanks.