Knee-high: How did the fashion for boots change
last few years The boots (except for the aristocratic jockey ones) were removed from the list of fashionable things due to unpleasant associations with the fetishistic fashion of the turn of the 2000s: lacquered boots, leather boots to mid-thigh and, of course, boots and stockings. However, the current autumn-winter season was marked by the return of the fashion of the late 1960s - early 1970s, and with them one of the key elements of the image of the decade in the form of neat knee-high boots and a small heel. However, today and this is not the only type of boots that was at our disposal. We recall how the fashion for boots changed over time and which ones are appropriate to wear today.
If you are heading into the history, then the early predecessors of modern boots are moccasins. Unlike its modern version, those moccasins had a high toe protecting feet from the cold. They were sewed by the indigenous peoples of the United States from rawhide, rabbit fur or sheep wool, and decorated with embroidery, fringe and patterns.
In a more familiar form of our boots will appear in the XVI century. During the reign of the Tudors, most of the shoes were worn by men, in particular soldiers. Musketeers walked in boots, whose height could reach mid-thigh, until the first half of the XIX century. In the women's fashion, shortened lace-up boots with a narrowed nose and a small heel-glass were entrenched only in the XVIII century. This model will survive several transformations, until by the middle of the 19th century very elegant boots made of lace or suede would not become fashionable - it was then the most popular material for creating shoes. These boots will be one of the signs of the Victorian fashion.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the style of the dress will change more than once, while the shoes will remain plus or minus the same. The changes will affect not the form of shoes, but fasteners: instead of lacing began to use small buttons, and their number grew in proportion to the passage of time. So, by the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century, up to 25 buttons could be on one boot — such shoes were called “leg braces”.
Special hooks that were made of precious metals and decorated with stones served as clasps - this was an option for the nobility. Writer Eileen Elias spoke about the process of putting on boots: “Button loops were so tight and narrow that they hurt your fingers, and the button hook did not always come at hand. Even if you had one, you must have pulled the wrong button into the loop. I sat and struggled with my boots, swallowing tears. " It is very useful here to skip about a century ahead and recall the words of the infamous fashion diva: "If you feel comfortable, you never get the look."
Until the beginning of the 20th century, full equality prevailed in relation to boots: they were worn by both men and women. Everything changed when the number of buttons on the shoes went off scale, and they themselves became so small that only women with thin fingers were able to cope with fasteners. At the same time, thanks in large part to the “Gibson girls”, boots began to turn into a fetish object and became the forerunner of the birth of modern foot-fetish culture.
In 1913, Denise Poiret, the wife of Paul Puare, the famous couturier, appeared in public in knee-length boots, which caused everyone to be amazed. The model, created by the designs of the couturier, had a low heel, a square toe, and was produced in red, white, green, and yellow. She received the name Russian boots, and already in 1915, The New York Times wrote about a new fashion for high boots. By the 20th, Russian boots began to be produced in different styles: the heel shape varied (from Cuban, that is, wide, slightly tapering to the bottom, to “wine glass”), the width of the tops, with or without zipper.
It is believed that the popularity of this model in the 20s is a reflection of sociocultural changes in the society of the time when women from the "idle class", whom they had been considered for centuries, became full fighters for equal rights with men: from driving a car to mastering "male" professions. If earlier a woman needed at least an extra pair of hands and a couple of hours to put on a pair of boots with many ingenious zippers and buttons, now comfortable boots with a spacious leg could be pulled in seconds. However, for a long time these Russian boots did not linger - by the end of the 20s, open shoes came into vogue. Thanks to the popularization of cars, it was no longer necessary to protect the feet from a long stay in the cold, and the shoes could perform an aesthetic function exclusively.
Truly fashionable accessory boots became in the 60s. A few years earlier, the American designer Beth Levine presented, under her brand Lebert Levine, mid-calf boots made from the softest husky - leather, which is commonly used to make gloves. The audience met the model without much enthusiasm: at that time, boots were not considered shoes designed to be worn in bad weather or during dirty work. Levine, in turn, insisted that the boots could well make a decent pair even a haute couture dress, and in 1957 released a collection entirely built around this model - with a neat, not very high shaft and heel kitten heel.
At first, "fashionable" boots were accepted with cold skepticism, but after a couple of years, this style was exploited by the most outstanding fashion designers. In the autumn collection of Balenciaga in 1962, you can see boots just above the knee of authorship of the famous shoemaker René Mancini. A year later, Yves Saint-Laurent will show boots in a pair with couture outfits, Vogue will officially recognize the boots as "shoes of the season" and they will become an obligatory attribute of a woman of the 60s.
Even then, the boots were made of leather and artificial materials like PVC. The adept of futurism in the design of Andre Kurrej in 1965 for the first time will show his iconic white leather boots with a round toe and flat shoes. Two years later, Mary Quant will launch the Quant Afoot line, under which she will produce inexpensive fashionable plastic boots, and they will be the perfect pair for mini-skirts, also at the height of fashion. In the 60s, plastic was used to create shoes everywhere. Firstly, for economic reasons - the prices for natural leather were growing rapidly, and secondly, because of the futuristic image favored by designers, inspired by the space odyssey and fantasies about the future of man.
The boots of the typical style of the mid-1960s were called go-go boots, and this has nothing to do with dancers in clubs: the name is derived from the French "à gogo", which literally means "to be abundant", and figuratively - "to be the latest fashion ". In 1966, Nancy Sinatra released the immortal hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin '", which will finally fix the boots in fashionable and pop culture and will be another proof that the boots linger with us for a long time. The higher the hem of the skirt, the higher the boots became. By the end of the 1960s, the boots and the so-called pirate boots would be in fashion - with a wide-open boot. These, made of black PVC, in his collection in 1968, are shown by Pierre Cardin, and Beth Levine almost simultaneously produces boots of stretch vinyl and nylon, more like stockings.
Despite the fact that boots were considered the most fashionable shoes in the mid-1960s, until the end of the decade, they were more likely to be a choice, as we would say, advanced mods. Such footwear gained mass popularity only with the arrival of the 1970s, having got rid of associations with the wardrobe of exclusively young girls. By the early 1970s, high (knee-high or higher) boots, most often tight-fitting legs, on a small stable heel or without it, remained in fashion.
A radical transition happened when a high, thick heel and a platform in the toe part were added to the model, which could reach 7 centimeters. The first such boots were tried on by the adherents of the new-fashioned hippie movement, and after the publication of the corresponding article in the Seventeen magazine - all the others. By the way, in such shoes they liked to fag and men - it was at this time that the boots returned to the men's wardrobe. In addition to the platform, the so-called grandmother's boots, reminiscent of those worn in the Victorian era, and cowboy boots, are considered to be the key cut of the 1970s, and Ralph Loren was the first to go to the podium.
By the end of the 1970s, the boot top is getting lower and wider so that they can be worn over trousers or jeans. At the end of the decade, two opposite directions are indicated in the shoe fashion: the masses prefer shortened boots and ankle-high boots, while the high jackboots are recognized among emerging punk movements and become uniforms of musicians like Debbie Harry. With the exception of stage and subcultural contexts, throughout the 80s boots almost completely disappear from the pages of magazines and will only occasionally remind themselves of modest riding boots that are worn with long skirts and shoulder pads.
A sudden surge of popularity on the boots will happen after the release of the movie "Top Gun" in 1986: in it, the hero Tom Cruise walks in cowboy boots with inlay, about which all American youth immediately sank. The designers will make timid attempts to return the boots to the mass fashion in the late 80s: first, suede boots with a free top and low heels will appear on the shelves, and then in 1990 in the autumn-winter Chanel fashion collection Karl Lagerfeld will show satin boots stockings. With this, a new, long and happy life of boots will begin.
The beginning of the 1990s greeted society with the flowering of club culture, which obviously influenced our way of dressing - any things that could make a star of a party out of the common man were used. Most often, clubbers used codebooks for 60s skirts, mini dresses and high boots as a basis, so that at the exit they got pretty vulgarized images mixed up with fetishistic culture. In honor were go-go boots under the 60th knee-length, boots on the platform and PVC boots - all these were flirted by individual designers, whose column was led by Gianni Versace.
To imagine how it was, remember Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" - you can’t imagine a better example. Finally, in 1993, the new fashion went further than the party-goers' outfits: Vogue released an article under the heading "The Year of the Boot", categorically placing boots in the main trends of the coming years. At the Versace season of the fall-winter show - 1995, models came out on the catwalk in stiff-fitting stiletto heels — an image firmly entrenched in the mass consciousness for the next 10-15 years. Such a model has become the herald of a new, frank and straightforward sexuality of the end of the 20th century, forming the image of a female seductress. In fairness it should be said that the boots are not the only shoes that dominated the catwalks in the 90s. So, all the same Ralph Lauren, inspired by the TV series "Dynasty", with enviable constancy showed in the collections of cowboy boots, and Michael Kors followed him with his collection Sundance Chic in autumn-winter 1999. However, such appearances can be called the exception rather than the mainstream.
Millennium becomes the most heterogeneous period with respect to fashion trends, and shoes in particular. The beginning of the 2000s is the apogee of monstrous glamor with tons of rhinestones, kilometers of hair extensions and boots, the height of which could be kept only by the physiological boundaries of the human figure. At the same time, the distinctive features of fashionable boots were long (and when we say this, we mean really long) a sharp toe and a stud not lower than 10 cm. Such Roberto Cavalli liked to show. At the same time, uggs, footwear, which initially served the benefit of the Australian military and became the main ten-year-long fashion nightmare, come into mass use.
And yet the 2000s - this is the time of sexy jackboots. Hints at the future mass popularity of such shoes can be seen in the collections of Narciso Rodriguez and Phoebe Failo, then still working in Chloé. After the season, Karl Lagerfeld and his boots above the knee length continue to be the subject, a little later they will be put on by Anne Hathaway for the filming of the movie "The Devil Wears Prada". In the maximum variety, the boots will manifest themselves in 2009: Miuccia Prada will offer a radical version - boots practically up to the thigh with a very wide shaft and suspenders, which are supposed to be mounted on a belt. In the same season, Stella McCartney will have leather stockings with a round toe and a stiletto heel. Frida Giannini for Gucci will do the same. Alexander McQueen has a fetish version with a “goose foot” print or monochromatic - all on a super-high striptease platform.
Designer Hanna Macgibbon, freshly appointed in Chloé, will offer boots with a flat top and flat sole, and Peter Dundas for Emilio Pucci - the same, only on a high stiletto. Marc Jacobs at the Louis Vuitton fashion show will be wearing ultra-high black and gold embossed boots. It is not surprising that in the same year the famous capsular collection Jimmy Choo for H & M with tight-fitting high-heeled boots will be released.
Treads, with or without a heel, will remain a strong trend all year long and will go on to the next one with the same success: we will see them in the collections autumn-winter - 2010 Burberry Prorsum, Dior, Gucci, Dsquared2 and Hermès. In parallel with this trend, several others are developing at once. For example, with the filing of Karl Lagerfeld, fur fur boots suddenly burst into fashion, instantly turning the legs into the legs of the yeti. Phoebe Faylo for Céline will show laconic knee-high boots, Dior, under the guidance of Galliano, has variations on the theme of baroque stiletto boots, and Michael Corsa’s collection will have low suede boots with a free soft toe and wide heel. The latter will be destined to become the key model of Russian girls right up to today.
However, Russian girls have special relations with boots. Due to the harsh climatic conditions for us, boots are more vital necessity than a fashion accessory, at least, so my mother taught. From the variety of trends on styles of boots, we are surer than others, we got stuck in the high boots “I don’t want to” and ugg boots. Both those and others are extremes: from the canonical femme fatale to the manifestation of comfort on the verge of indecency. Gradually, the shoes above the ankle more than 2 centimeters became hopelessly outdated. Over the past couple of years, we have lost the habit of these extremes and were ready to freeze in winter in low boots in men's style (brogues and oxfords) and, of course, sneakers. Fortunately, in the current season, designers give us a chance to warm up: the boots are back on the runways in a huge variety. We see boots in Balenciaga, Carven, Moschino, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Marc Jacobs and even Hood By Air, laconic in Acne and Prada, jockey in Cédric Charlier, MM6 Maison Martin Margiela, Sacai and Alexander Wang, sports lace-ups in Marc by Marc Jacobs and Chanel.
Perhaps the main rule, which is to adopt, if you decide to wear boots again: avoid deliberately feminine and frankly sexy images. It is best to choose a model with a heel height of not more than 5 centimeters or even without him and with a free, but wide enough bootle - so that if you wish, you can wear wool knee-highs. This technique will fit not only for warming, but also as a more convincing styling under the 1960s. However, among the variety of models worth paying attention to the boots in the style of the 60s and 70s as the most relevant. These are in the collections of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Saint Laurent, as well as Meadham Kirchhoff - these brands almost literally quote the very go-go boots in which the girls of the 1960s walked. They are also supposed to be worn with an eye to the source of inspiration - paired with short A-silhouette dresses and mini-skirts and long merry fur coats.
One more non-trivial model of boots - those that resemble gladiator sandals, as well as sports wrestling wrestling. They are supposed to be supplemented with something obviously simple: knee-length shorts, culottes, T-shirt dresses, massive parks. And yet - if you think that boots designed for the European winter (and the overwhelming majority of fashion brands are still focused on a minimum temperature of about 0 degrees), are not designed to survive even in central Russia, you are deeply mistaken. In the end, fur insoles and thermal underwear were not just invented.
