Your Genuinely Vintage Shoes (old, not repro)

Paul Roerich · Oct 10, 2012

The Powder Room has a thriving thread on vintage-looking modern shoes, but is there a thread devoted to genuinely vintage (old) shoes for women? Maybe yes, but I couldn't find it. So ... here.

First up: screen star Merle Oberon. In a shoe. Ready for you to step on her face. (And after Miss Oberon's shrill performance in "Wuthering Heights", who wouldn't want to?) From the late '30s, maybe.

Your turn. Please show us some vintage shoes for women!

sproily · Oct 11, 2012

Here are a few of mine

1920's

1950's

1930's

1950's

1940's

1950's

1930's

1960's

Paul Roerich · Oct 11, 2012

Thank you, Sproily! Let's hope that others will contribute too.

CaramelSmoothie · Oct 11, 2012

Beautiful shoes. Unfortunately I have nothing to add as it's impossible to find any vintage shoes to fit my 9.5 hoofs. I'm partial to 1930s shoes but have never come across any that were my size.

sproily · Oct 11, 2012

^The brown 1930's shoes in my post (3rd pair) are size 10, albeit narrowish.

LizzieMaine · Oct 11, 2012

Indeed. As another 9.5er, I know they're out there, but they're very hard to find and when they do turn up they get priced out of the market for us common folk. I think most of the gals here wear repro out of necessity more than anything else.

LizzieMaine · Oct 11, 2012

sproily said:
^The brown 1930's shoes in my post (3rd pair) are size 10, albeit narrowish.

Those are what we call "housewife oxfords," and were commonly available in larger sizes than dress shoes. A lot of the dress shoes you'd find at a shoestore in the thirties only went as high as 8 or 9 in size, but if you went to Enna Jettick's or a Coward Comfort store you'd find lots of "outsize" shoes in 9 and 10. Most of the size 9.5 - 10 shoes I've personally come across from the thirties have been of these more utilitarian brands and styles.

I regularly wear various pairs of Selby and Barefoot Freedom housewife oxfords from the fifties in 9.5C, but I don't have any way to photograph them. They're very similar to the style shown in the pic, a style which was essentially unchanged from the twenties to the sixties. You could still get Barefoot Freedom shoes in this style into the early 2000s from dealers in orthopedic footwear, but they've all since been discontinuted.

scarlett · Oct 12, 2012

Those are lovely shoes. I don't own vintage shoes anymore. I had a few pair of adorable 1940s heels that I actually wore and eventually ruined! It was heartbreaking. The craftsmanship of vintage shoes is incredible.

Mojito · Oct 12, 2012

At 5'10" I'm another "generously" hoofed individual (American size 10 to 10.5)...so there aren't many original 1920s shoes I own, let alone ones I'd wear. I have quite a few for research/display.

Here's one pair of silver lame shoes worn for a wedding:

And here's the original owner, Marion, wearing them on that occasion. You can see she was a tall girl herself - she looks like she's scrunching down to match the height of her partner (the marriage, sadly, did not last - but she apparently wore some fabulous couture when she married someone else for occasion No. 2!):

Miss Sis · Oct 12, 2012

Hmmmmm, I have *lots* of vintage shoes, but not many photos, something I will have to remedy! Here's one pair that I found a pic of - 1930s British heeled sandals. They even came with their own special wooden shoe trees.
I am UK size 6 1/2 - 7 which is US 8 1/2 - 9, and I still have something like fifty pairs..... there is hope for the larger footed lady!

Flicka · Oct 13, 2012

Here are some of mine, completely untreated (but will take care of the now, using sproily's advice in the other thread):

soles of the same pair:

Was going to show another pair and a shot of the brand name but Photobucket quit and won't work (they've made some major changes to the service and I guessing they didn't beta it enough) so unfortunately I can't. Anyway, they all belonged to the same woman, are of the same make ("Ramlösa Skor") and I got them from the original owner's daughter who told me they are all '30s.

I'm a European size 37 so I have no problems finding vintage shoes my size. My grandmother, born in 1925, was a size 41. She could hardly get shoes at all when she was young, and had to use specialist stores, so I can see that vintage shoes in larger sizes would be unusual.

sproily · Oct 13, 2012

The second ones are stunning!

Flicka · Oct 13, 2012

sproily said:
The second ones are stunning!

Thank you! The seller said she didn't think her mother had ever used them. The funny thing is, they're a size smaller than the other pairs so they didn't fit her. But her, being a thrifty soul, still hung on to them until I came along. I wonder what made her buy the wrong size in the first place?

LinaSofia · Dec 21, 2012

They may not be as pretty as the other shoes on this thread, but very winter-appropriate and cosy! I recently got these Clark's "Igloos" from eBay.
They are exactly like the ones in this advert from 1957.

susan · Jan 19, 2013

...I´m also a US 9 , 9 1/2...
This is my vintage shoe collection so far, I also own some 70s/80s wedges for summer.

Alice Blue · Feb 9, 2013

I've just started looking at vintage ladies' shoes on Etsy and Ebay, and I was wondering why I saw so many deadstock shoes and others with very little wear on the sole from the 1940s. I've read that shoe leather was rationed, so I had expected that most people would have worn out their shoes and that old inventory would be easily sold.

LizzieMaine · Feb 9, 2013

A couple of possible explanations:

The deadstock shoes are unpopular sizes, and thus never sold.

Or, the owners of the shoes had them resoled. Shoe repair shops could still get leather, and resoling was strongly encouraged as a way of reducing shoe consumption.

Under rationing, all book holders were limited to two pairs of shoes per year, so most shoes that were sold tended to be more utilitarian styles -- you could get more use out of them than fancier/dressier styles, so it's easier to find an unworn pair of fancy pumps than it is to find an unworn pair of wartime housewife oxfords.

Lady Day · Feb 9, 2013

These were a find a few years ago. Late 30w/40s oxfords, size 10, and fit great.

Alice Blue · Feb 9, 2013

Thanks for the info LizzieMaine, and LD those shoes are great!

Maudelynn · Feb 14, 2013

I have quite a few pair of 1920s/30s shoes, and a sprinkling of 1940s. I have 5.5 sized feet, so I often luck out! I am going to be taking pictures of some things for etsy, so I will grab some snaps of them for you all, if you'd like.

Your Genuinely Vintage Shoes (old, not repro)

"A List" Customer

Practically Family

"A List" Customer

Practically Family

Practically Family

One of the Regulars

One Too Many

One Too Many

One Too Many

Practically Family

One Too Many

A-List Customer

Familiar Face

One of the Regulars

I'll Lock Up

One of the Regulars

Familiar Face

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