Rare and unusual shoes.
The term 'being a square' comes from the eighteenth century 'square toes' meaning out of date or old fashioned shoes. This term was directed at unfashionable men who were still wearing square toes when they had long gone out of fashion.*
Of black glacé kid, square toes, small narrow ribbon tie latchets, edged in narrow black grograin ribbon, leather sole with very slight heel, the inner sides lined in green silk, the inner sole in green leather.
Toe to heel 10 1/2 in; 27 cm
Good. These have been worn, as the soles will testify, and the creasing at the sides of the shoes. There are quite a lot of markings where the glacé finish has peeled off.
*The Seductive Shoe Jonathan Walford, p 65
Footwear Alan & Vanessa Hopkins p 46 with similar two striped ribbon binding that edges the shoe as our pair.
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/239801#&gid=1&pid=1
Mitchell, Louise, with Lindie Ward, 'Stepping out: three centuries of shoes', Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 1997
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
