Boots
Manufacturer French, Shriner & Urner American
Not on view
The button Balmoral had been worn as an ordinary day shoe prior to World War I, but in the post-war era, it became increasingly used for more formal occasions. In this classic example of a dressy men's shoe of its period, the patent vamp and cloth top add to the formal tone. The cloth top is a clear parallel to the spat, which was worn to dress up a plainer shoe. The pleasingly slender lines are typical of the years around 1920. With the increasing importance of low shoes and more casual styles, high button shoes came to be seen as stuffy and old-fashion and eventually fell out of use in the 1930s.
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