A woman is known by the shoes she wears

Although the shoe history extends back over several centuries, people started making different shoes for right and left feet only during the Victorian Era. They were the first shoes that considered the feet anatomy and thus were more comfortable.

Starting from the middle of the XIX century the comfortable and practical leather boots replace the silk shoes. The shape of shoes became more rigid, and they often featured lacing and buckles. Female shoes were decorated with intricate embroidery and laces. All the shoes featured low heels, often decorated with ribbons, jewels, buckles or tassels. And the most fashionable shoes of that period were the fur trimmed low ankle boots featuring the comfortable kitten heels. During that period the high heeled shoes were popular not among the women but among men as well. At the same time even in the Victorian era shoes were still a luxury. And if a girl had lots of different boots and shoes, she considered to be very wealthy, as some people could not afford to own even one pair of boots. Women's magazines of that time often wrote: "Feet are one of the main aspects displaying the social status of a woman. Little feet wearing a pair of good shoes, as well as light step and beautiful gait add some charm to appearance, and show the high status". Also people could always order a pair of good leather shoes designed especially for them. The footwear was additionally trimmed with suede, silk or any other fabric at the customer's request. The 1850's were marked with the industrial mass production of footwear. People were offered buy the footwear in special shops at lower price. Actually it was the beginning of a new era in the shoe business. However, it is quite a different story.

[collection=vintage-style-boots]