Thursday, January 19, 2012
Swimming Shoes
Recently we were lucky enough to visit the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. Their current
exhibit is wonderfully titled "The Roaring Twenties: Heels, Hemlines and High Spirits"
It featured beautiful flapper dresses, bejeweled heels and interesting stories from that era.
One interesting style of shoe that really stood out was this "Swimming Shoe"
Swimming shoes, made by Philips
English, late 1920s
The 1920s saw increasing numbers of women participating and excelling at sports. The sporting accomplishments of women, such as Suzanne Lenglen’s stunning tennis game and Gertrude Ederle’s record breaking swim across the English Channel were celebrated and inspired many women to take up a sport. Each sport required its own specialized footwear including swimming. This pair of red rubber, “silver wing” bathing shoes would have been worn by a swimmer in pursuit of both fashion and fun at the end of the 20s.
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum
Photo credit: 2011 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada.
What a stylish way to go swimming.... they even have wings! This style would not look out of place in current times as a street shoe, wings and all.
exhibit is wonderfully titled "The Roaring Twenties: Heels, Hemlines and High Spirits"
It featured beautiful flapper dresses, bejeweled heels and interesting stories from that era.
One interesting style of shoe that really stood out was this "Swimming Shoe"
English, late 1920s
The 1920s saw increasing numbers of women participating and excelling at sports. The sporting accomplishments of women, such as Suzanne Lenglen’s stunning tennis game and Gertrude Ederle’s record breaking swim across the English Channel were celebrated and inspired many women to take up a sport. Each sport required its own specialized footwear including swimming. This pair of red rubber, “silver wing” bathing shoes would have been worn by a swimmer in pursuit of both fashion and fun at the end of the 20s.
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum
Photo credit: 2011 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada.
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| Our own photo |
What a stylish way to go swimming.... they even have wings! This style would not look out of place in current times as a street shoe, wings and all.
The Roaring twenties exhibit is on until June 2012, I'll post more pictures soon.
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/exhibitions/roaring20s/index.shtml
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/exhibitions/roaring20s/index.shtml