Topless Shoes In The Seventeenth Century

As said in the article Women’s Fashion in the 1800s London,”These were worn under the clothing, bodices with boning on either side and lacing to hold it together. More affluent

Have you ever wondered what people in the Elizabethan Era wore? Fashion was just as important in those days as it is to some people today. What people were wearing mattered to others, and even the government. During the Elizabethan Era clothing, accessories, and cosmetics were all a part of daily life.

During Colonial America (1600-1650), there were obvious European influences since all the settlers had just sailed to America from Europe and brought their clothing with them. This fashion of this period is characterized by the disappearance of the ruffles around the neckline and hose on men. The settlers’ clothing was very simple with basic patterns, cuts, and colors while they always covered the entire body. The silhouette, which was essentially close to the body with tight sleeves and a low, pointed waist, was popular to around 1615, and gradually softened and broadened. Sleeves became very full, and in the 1620s and 1630s were often paned or slashed to show the voluminous sleeves of the shirt or chemise beneath.

In this essay I want to examine how the corset evolved from a staple of the British feminine wardrobe of the Nineteenth Century into a symbol of an outmoded tradition – only to later return as a statement of female liberation. I am going to look at different aspects of this development including technological advances, economic facts, external events, particularly the First World War and changes in social, political and aesthetic attitudes. I will also look briefly at the role of Chanel on the silhouette and how this impacted on the corset: focusing on the trend to towards ‘opulent androgyny’ in the 1920’s. Finally I will examine the resurgence of the corset

The first few times you see shoes mentioned is irrelevant, but once you get to the chapter “The Family of Little Feet,” shoes begin to take on a meaning. A woman came up to Esperanza and her friends Rachel and Lucy, offering a bag of shoes which were said to be “one pair of lemon shoes and one red and one pair of dancing shoes that used to be white but were now pale blue” (40). The girls were excited by the shoes, made clear by the line “Hurray! Today we are Cinderella because our feet fit exactly” (40). They even go as far to describe them as “magic high heels” (40) while they were learning to walk in them. Soon, however, this innocence and joy get tainted once the girls go walking in the shoes, first having Mr. Benny, the grocer, say, “Them are dangerous. You girls too young to be wearing shoes like that” (41). But this didn’t faze the girls, and they continued walking. They enjoyed the attention they were getting, Esperanza even saying, “these are the best shoes. We will never go back to wearing the other

Fashion is a big part of many people's lives, but it is constantly changing and growing. In the Elizabethan time fashion was very different than it is today. For example trends and materials used have changed. The colors people wore told a lot about who they were, unlike today. Some parts of fashion have stayed pretty constant throughout the years. For example today and then there are known designers around the world. Also fashion still impacts lives greatly. So when looking at fashion throughout the years it is evident that materials, trends, color usage, designers, and the impact on society has greatly changed and is still changing.

Whether it had been going to church, urban high schools or for a special occasion teenage boys also wore suits. Their suits were miniature versions of their fathers with minor changes.

Issues of women rights have been debated for years as well as women and their place in the world. Movies have prompted the relevance of this idea; books have spurred its opinions on whether there should be a sort of revival in this nation. The House on Mango Street does not fall too far from this act of prompting. One specific instance in which feminism is mentioned is its relation to shoes. In the chapter “The Family of Little Feet” Esperanza begins the chapter by giving a vivid description of a random family’s feet. She states that the grandpa’s feet were “fat and doughy like thick tamales, and these he powered and stuffed into white socks and brown leather shoes” (39), in other words, that his feet were horrific. Esperanza proceeds to speak on the grandma’s feet, the baby’s feet, and the mother’s feet, who each reached the standard for beautiful feet. The chapter continues by telling the instance in which Nenny, Rachel, and Lucy received old- high heeled shoes from their neighbor. It also mentions the three friends being highly excited about the distribution given to them. They even declared that they will no longer wear the “other kind.” Why would they be so excited about something so insignificant such as heels, or is it insignificant? They implied that the “other kind” of shoe couldn’t compare to the new pair of old- high heels they received. Michelle S. Sugiyama, the author who wrote Of

People everywhere find self-expression through what they wear. Many people today are judged by what they wear. Although one doesn’t want it to, clothing can place you in a certain group or social class. Even 457 years ago, when the Elizabethan Era was recognized by its profound range of fashion, clothing showed wealth, inheritance, and social class. People today are allowed to wear what they desire, but during the Elizabethan Era many women were restricted from many fabrics or materials, colors, and patterns.

In page 40 of House on Mango Street shoes are introduced. In this book shoes symbolizes a women’s sexuality. And her personal conflict and her desire for self determination. This is shown when a neighbor gave Nenny, Rachel and Lucy some old high heels. They wear them and realize that their legs look longer. They also realize that wearing them attracts lewd comments from men. Which end up scaring the girls ending in them throwing them out.

In the Elizabethan period, the law on what clothing people wore was so strict that people could have penalties such as fines, the loss of property, and even life (www.elizabethan-era.org.uk)! Clothing was very important to people in the Elizabethan period, and regardless of what social class people where in, what they wore mattered a lot to them and defined them. This applies to younger girls and younger boys, who spent a lot of time dressing nice. Young girls spent their morning putting on their many layers of clothing.

“Bound Feet & Western Dress” is a book written by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang that begins in her family home in Connecticut as she shuffles through a “carved mahogany trunk from China” that held the “secrets of China.” Inside are her grandmother’s embroidered silk lounging robes, grandfathers tuxedo, white dinner jackets and jodhpurs, aprons of her amah, Xu Ma, and cheongsams that she had learned to fold from her father. Finally, she finds the black cheongsam like dress that once belonged to her great aunt Yu-I and goes to tell the story of her life in traditional China as it was merging with Western tradition and becoming modern.

Slippers are a very universal item as every culture has been found to have worn them. They are defined as any light, low-cut shoe into which the foot may be easily slipped, for casual wear in the home, for dancing, etc. Slippers are said to be invented by a man named Alvin Slipper during the 12th Century. During this time, a Southern Song Dynasty Officer was the first to reference the slipper.

The Renaissance period was an exciting time, which had some beautiful clothing for men and women. As we know the Renaissance period is known as “rebirth” because it was a period full of innovations and creations; it was a turning point for fashion. It was tending towards wealthy designs, and quite simple shapes and the use of silks and hides were very common.

The movie The Field of Lost Shoes, purely based off of the Battle of New Market, is both accurate and inaccurate when displaying soldiers’ lifestyle and their experiences that occurred during the Civil War. The movie is inaccurate in a way that is portrays soldiers having to leave their jobs, when they really did have jobs they had to leave. The movie is accurate in most scenes. Its accuracy proves to be correct in the scenes that women had to step in as nurses and help the wounded, soldiers leaving their loved ones, the horrible conditions that the soldiers had to fight through, and when groups of stable soldiers went to the field’s aftermath to rescue wounded soldiers and their loved ones. Overall, the movie is consistently accurate all the way through to show how the Civil War impacted the American lifestyle.