19th century shoes/footwear

[DWFII]

Anyone have any paintings, illustrations or photos of 19the century footwear...specifically buckle shoes.

I am looking for details and nuance for shoes I am making for myself.

[artificer]

One of the best places to find them (at least Scottish ones) are to do a search for Ken MacLeay's Highlanders of Scotland.

A search of posts by our own OC Richard will reveal much here on X.

[OC Richard]

The Highlanders of Scotland reveals a Highland Dress which was far more diverse than ours is today.

There are numerous shoe styles seen there, many of which no longer exist. These are shown in such painstaking detail that one would probably be able to use the paintings as a guide to reproduce them.

I need to mention that the dress in general, and the footwear in particular, does not show the clear day/evening dichotomy that is seen in the Highland Dress of the first half of the 20th century.

The shoe break down as follows:

25 "Mary Jane" style, showing tremendous variety:
15 buckles above and below opening
6 buckle above opening only
2 buckle above, laced below
1 laced above, buckle below
1 no buckles, laced all the way up over the opening

11 "Ghillie" style, most tan leather, a few brown, one grey. The only black pair have buckles near the toes

10 ordinary shoes (what I would call "Oxfords")

3 ankle boots

1 spats covering shoes

1 unique shoe, an interesting blend between ghillies and Mary Janes

This last was still being made in the early 20th century, as they appear in my Lawrie catalogue from 1930, seen on the lower right:



In this Anderson catalogue from the 1930s we see Ghillies transformed into an Evening style complete with buckles. Only one of eleven ghillies seen in the Highlanders of Scotland is like this.



Here are some of the interesting shoes to be seen in The Highlanders of Scotland:

(left) slip-on loafer style shoes with nonfunctional buckles (right) typcial tan suede ghilles


(left) extremely interesting shoes, very similar to the ones offered by Lawrie in the 1930s, sort of like Mary Janes with two pairs of tabs such as are seen on ghillies (right) interesting brown Mary Janes with buckles above the opening, but laced below the opening


(right) tan suede ghillies with only two pairs of tabs, as opposed to four pairs of tabs as seen on modern ghillies


(left) ankle boots (right) unique shoes, like Mary Janes but with a much smaller opening, having buckles above and lacing below


(left) slip-on loafer style shoes with nonfunctional buckles (right) ordinary shoes


yet more tan suede ghillies, the ones on the left having three pairs of tabs, the ones on the right only two pairs of tabs (as compared to four on modern ghillies)

[DWFII]

*#@%!!*~

I mean "rats!" I meant 18th century shoes. I am very familiar with the MacLeay portraits. By the mid 19th century mary janes were the vogue and I'm not a fan.

I'm more interested in buckle shoes, but not the loafer style--the kind that were described in the old nursery rhyme "One, Two, buckle your shoe."

I seem to remember one portrait of the King visiting the highlands in 1820 (?) but couldn't remember what kind of shoe he was wearing.

Interesting post OC.

Thanks guys...now if you (or others) can come up with a similar set for the mid 18th to early 19th...

[longhuntr74]

Thanks for that post OC Richard...thoroughly interesting study. I note that all the toes on MacLeay's portraits appear squared off and rather pointy (no toe box). Is this representative of the footwear of the time, or more the result of MacLeay's painting/drawing style? I know that his works are renowned for their attention to detail, etc...

[DWFII]

Thanks for that post OC Richard...thoroughly interesting study. I note that all the toes on MacLeay's portraits appear squared off and rather pointy (no toe box). Is this representative of the footwear of the time, or more the result of MacLeay's painting/drawing style? I know that his works are renowned for their attention to detail, etc...

I talked to the foremost shoe historian in the US about this very thing and he told me that no toe stiffeners were the norm during this period.

You can also see this in the book Shoes by Dame June Swann (who is considered the worlds foremost authority on shoe history). The book features photo of period shoes from the collection at the Northampton She Museum.

[OC Richard]

About 18th century shoes, fortunately good reproductions of those are widely available.

It would be an interesting study, to go through all the 18th century portraits which show shoes and catalogue the various styles.

In looking through some reproductions of old paintings, most Highland chiefs are wearing what look like ordinary laced shoes, or the typical 18th century buckles shoes.

I don't have many images to hand of such, but here's one of the earliest clear depictions of Highland Dress, c1660, showing very interesting shoes



Lord Duffus in 1700



the Piper to the Laird Grant 1714



Here are the MacDonald Children in the mid 18th century



and Highland Dress with trews



and further on in the century, a Highland officer c1780 wearing the typical shoes of the period, with lovely silver buckles



at the end of the century Sir John Sinclair

[OC Richard]

Now that I think about it, what a contrast between 19th century and 18th century Highland footwear!

So much variety in the 19th century, so many different styles. But in the 18th century paintings there are no Highland-specific shoes at all, only the typical laced and buckled shoes same the the English wore.

Where are the nascent ghillies? Where are the aboriginal Mary Janes?

We know that in earlier times the Highlanders did have their own distinctive Gaelic footwear, related to the pampootie (pamputa in Gaelic), which are still worn in the Aran isles off the west coast of Ireland



These traditional Gaelic shoes are described in 1542, John Elder writing of the dress of Highlanders to King Henry VIII

"...we can not suffir bair footide...after we have slayne redd deir, we flaye of the skyne, bey and bey, and settinge of our bair foote on the insyde therof, for neid of cunnynge shoemakers, by your Graces pardon, we play the sutters; compasinge and mesuringe so moche therof, as shall retche up to our ancklers, pryckynge the upper part thereof also with holis, that the watrer may repas wher it entris, and stretchide up with a stronge thwange of the same, meitand above our saide ancklers, so, and pleas your noble Grace, we make our shoois: Therefor, we using suche maner of shoois, the roghe hairie syde outwart..."

At a Highland Games a year or so ago there was a woman with a booth selling pampooties that she makes. Oddly, when I talked to her, I learned that she had never heard of pampooties! She was calling them "ancient ghillies" or summat.

[Woodsheal]

Agreed. The "hard shoes" depicted worn by Highlanders who could afford them - or by Army types - were the usual styles worn throughout England and the Continent during the period. Here's another example:



Lace-up closure instead of buckles is often in evidence, too - even among the well-off. Here's Lord George Murray with stylish red laces:



Finally, here's an interesting pair with narrow latchets and quite small buckles, ca. 1700-1715:



For high-quality reproductions, Robert Land's shoes can't be beat, and are available here:
http://www.najecki.com/repro/Shoes.html

[MacMillans son]

Thank you Richard for the research and time you took to post all of these.

In addition to all of the shoes, I find the consistent kilt length to be quite telling as well. Of course all things change, but different artists, of different subjects, and I am assuming in different locals, all show the length of the kilt clearly at the top of, or slightly above, the knee.

This comes as no surprise to a certain gentleman from The Highlands, I am sure

Thanks again for posting these.