Friday Shoe History Corner: A New (Old) Take on Booties

[jitterbugbaby]

Everyone loves booties this season, don't they.Â* The flat boot is a mark of hot style. Take this sleek black number from Tapeet (on sale for $437.50 down from $625).

Very nice, no? And as proof that this is yet another fashion that has come in and out of style for a long long time, take a gander at these damask "gaiter boots" from Regency England (courtesy of Vintage Textile).

Couldn't you almost see these being sold today?Â* The leather cap-toe, the patterned damask fabric.Â* The lace up the inside.Â* They even have a history that fits with the way fashion trends work now.Â* The name and style comes from spats (or gaiters), which were worn first by military men to protect their boots from getting all muddy.Â* But when the style was adopted into gaiter boots, they were made daintier and more refined looking and lost the functional possibility of tromping through the mud a la Elizabeth Bennet. And people still do the same thing today.Â* Think about the ballet flat.Â* It's inspired by a ballet shoe, butÂ* when was the last time you actually saw someone walking down the street in these?

Likewise with the oxford (and by extension, this season's hot shoe-booties) and its relation to jazz dance shoes.Â* No one wanders around like this on the street.

So, hats (or should I say spats?) off to repurposing and recycling great fashion trends from history.