15 February 2010

Boots

From a wonderful photoessay about Luna Park.  This was the Parisian one, not the one at Coney Island.
The Luna Park of Paris stood at the Maillot Gate. Its main attractions included the Niagara Falls, the so-called Russian (or American) mountains, the diabolic wheel, the Enchanted Palace. They were all faithfully copied also in the World Expo of Roubaix in 1911 whose photo documentation was left to us. In 1914 a great dance hall opened here as well under the direction of Duque from Brasil. Duque, a dentist had come to Paris as a traveling agent of medicine, but there he discovered that exotic dances were selling much better. This is how he started to teach “the true Brasilian tango” or „maxixe” which became the most popular dance of pre-war Paris.
Much more at the link.  What intrigues me is that little girls of the era wore such huge boots for everyday (or perhaps for dress-up).  One supposes they were considered sensible and fashionable.

Via Uncertain Times.

6 comments:

  1. I learned from my doctor that traditional baby shoes (high-top, hard sole) were really bad for kids' feet, and the reason that many grew up to have weak ankles. His advice? Let them go barefoot whenever possible. That was almost 50 years ago, and the latest medical opinion is that we're better off barefoot.

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  2. When I was a baby I had soft leather moccasins, I still have them. When I was a kid I had those leather lace up boots as in the images. Now I am back to wearing soft leather moccasins again, they feel great!
    Le Loup.

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  3. I had to wear high-top shoes for longer than most kids supposedly because my doctor thought my ankles were weak! At any rate, I grew up to have perfectly competent ankles (rather nice ones, actually). Man, I hated those shoes. Now I go barefoot around the house all the time.

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  4. Yes, I was also enchanted by those boots. How elaborated they were! Time was a much cheaper commodity and a craftsman’s attention much more appreciated than nowadays.

    Thank you for the quotation of the post and the link to my blog!

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  5. Remember that back then the streets and walkways were a lot dirtier & muddier. Boots were a practical necessity, I imagine.

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  6. In 1910 that mud would also include a lot of horse manure.

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