Delson Dash Abouts – Late 1940s or Early 1950s

One thing that really makes the clothes and accessories of the years immediately following WWII is color.  During the war the limitations to fashion went way beyond rationing.  Because they were made from chemicals, many dyes were in short supply due to their usefulness in the war effort.

In the US, shoes were pretty much limited to six colors: black, three shades of brown, navy, and white.  Some writers have suggested that part of the limitation of colors might have been an effort to make shoes less desirable, and to make women less likely to want to buy the new shoes.  There may be some truth to that, and I might suggest that the styles were not exactly attractive either. They were sturdy and made to last.  Aesthetics were an afterthought.

But after the war ended, color exploded across fashion.  Some of the very best prints ever conceived were printed on post WWII rayons and silks.  Color didn’t end there, though, and shoes and handbags were also full of fantastic colors.

I found these super wedge shoes last weekend, and immediately fell in love with the color combination of purple, light yellow, and pale sky blue.  Just that little touch of blue turned these shoes into something really special.

The wedge hell was introduced by Ferragamo in 1936, and it remained a practical heel through the war years.  It allowed for easy walking, and the stability make wedges more comfortable than a conventional heel.

After the war ended, the wedge heel remained popular.  For the most part, it was used for more casual shoes or shoes for work.  Sandals often had wedge heels during the postwar period.

I spent an hour or two this afternoon researching when wedges were popular.  What that means is that I lost myself in copy after copy of magazines from the 1940s and early 50s.  Judging by the frequency of wedges featured in ads and editorial content, starting about 1952 the wedge heel started to lose popularity.  A devotee of the wedge could still find them in 1954, but the style was fast waning as the stiletto came on strong.

The brand is Delson Dash Abouts, a label I don’t remember ever seeing.  My search through my magazines did not produce an ad for the company either.  I did find a very few online references, the earliest being a newspaper ad in 1950.  There was also a note in a book on copyright holders that the label belonged to Bird & Son, Inc.  The last mention I’ve found was in a 1960s ad.

The Scottie on the label had absolutely nothing to do with the purchase of these shoes.

As I said, I did not turn up an ad for Delson Dash Abouts, but advertisements for colorful wedge shoes were common from 1946 through about 1952.  An example is this 1951 ad from Buskins.

Pollock’s Shoes, Asheville, NC

In my ongoing search for all things concerning hiking clothing, I found this ad in a 1926 issue of Everygirl’s, the Campfire Girls magazine.  I can’t resist looking at the lists of stores whenever they are a part of an ad, and I’m always interested to see if there was a store in Western North Carolina that offered the product.

In 1926 Cantilever Shoes could be bought at Pollock’s Shoes in Asheville.  I had read about Pollock’s in the great booklet, The Family Store, which tells about all the Jewish-owned businesses that could be found in Asheville in the twentieth century.  Pollock’s was owned by Lou Pollack, who according to his obituary, started the business in 1910.  In the 1920s the store was located on Patton Avenue, one of the main streets in downtown Asheville.

There have been a lot of changes on Patton Avenue, including the loss of two entire blocks to parking lots, and much of another to a modern bank building.  Almost incredibly the old Pollock’s store has survived at 39 Patton Avenue, with some distinctive brickwork that can be seen in old photos still in place today.

I was a bit surprised when I looked up one day while walking on nearby Haywood Street, to see the Pollock’s name.

By studying old city directories, which can be found online, I found that for a period of time mainly during the 1940s, there was a second Pollock’s store.  Just by looking at the decoration on the exterior of the building, my guess is that it was a posher version of the old family oriented store.

The Haywood Street Pollock’s was sandwiched between the very nice Bon Marche department store, on the left, and Woolworth’s on the right.  The Bon Marche opened in 1937, and Woolworth’s in 1938, and my guess is that the Pollock’s space dates to the same time period.

Lou Pollock was famous for having a yearly Christmas party for children who needed shoes, and he must have given away thousands of pairs over the years.  Pollock retired from his store in 1939, but the Patton Avenue store was open at least until 1956, the last year I found it listed in the city directory.

I love this kind of urban exploration.  There are little bits of the past still to be found in brick and plaster, tile and signage.  It’s all a matter of keeping one’s eyes open.

Ferragamo, 1938 and 2015

I don’t do a lot of retail shopping, purely because these days I prefer to make my clothes, and because there is so little that I need.  Last weekend I found myself in Atlanta (great niece’s first communion; that was interesting) and staying across the street from a huge shopping mall.  I decided to take my morning walk in the mall and do a bit of window shopping.

I love shop windows, and while the ones in malls are seldom on par with the great ones seen on the street in the major shopping cities, I’m always interested to see what it is that brands think is newsworthy enough to feature in their windows.

The shoes above were in the windows of Ferragamo, Italian maker of shoes that dates back to the 1920s.  In 1928  Salvatore Ferragamo opened his shoe manufacturing business in Florence, Italy, after a time in Hollywood making shoes for the movies.  The business struggled through the depression, but by 1938 was making enough money for Salvatore to relocate the business to a grand palace.

World War II was looming, and Ferragamo was looking to alternative materials from which to fashion his shoes.  One idea was to build the soles and heels from cork.  From 1938 through the 1940s Ferragamo made fanciful wedge heels and platforms with the lightweight cork as a base.

The above shoe is quite well-known.  This particular example is in the Ferragamo Museum, which is still housed in the palace Salvatore bought in 1938.  You can see why I was attracted to the new platforms in the window.  It is a superb example of a company reaching back into their archives to bring out ideas and update them for modern taste.

On the Ferragamo website I found that there are several different styles in this line based on the 1938 cork sole and heel.  I also spotted some sandals and espadrilles  based on the famous Ferragamo Vara (the pump with the bow) which was first made in the 1970s and became the shoe of working women in the 1980s.  And they still make the Audrey, a flat ballet type shoe that was designed for Audrey Hepburn in 1954.

Ferragamo is proof that companies don’t have to reinvent the wheel every four months.  All they have to do is build on the greatness they have already created.

The book that contains the picture of the 1938 platforms is Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More, by Linda O’Keefe.  I bought it while on a school field trip with my fifth graders  to the Mint Museum in Charlotte in 1996, and I and the lucky little girls sitting near me on the bus ride home whiled away the trip with this great little book.  It’s still a favorite, partly because it reminds me so much of the fun we had analyzing the designs and picking out our favorites.

 

Ad Campaign – I. Miller Shoes, 1930s

I. Miller gives you summer shoes in color taken from the new flower prints.

On to the American Summer scene of glamorous clothes walk  I. Miller shoes in vibrant flower colors.  Nature’s hues selected with the I. Miller genius for color…for costume relationship. 1937

Israel Miller was the son of a Polish (some sources say Prussian) shoemaker who immigrated to the USA in the 1890s.  He obtained work as a cobbler with John Azzimonti,  an Italian immigrant who was making shoes for the theater.  According to an issue of the Boot and Shoe Recorder, actress Sarah Bernhardt once ordered 244 pairs of boots at one time.  When Azzimonti closed the shoe making business in 1909, his customers put in orders for up to thirty pairs.

They need not have worried about obtaining quality shoes, as Azzimonti’s former employee, Israel Miller was already making shoes and would establish I. Miller by 1911.  His operation was moved to a building near the corner of Broadway and 46th Street, which is in the theater district.  He was soon leasing the two brownstone buildings on the corner, and business was so good that in 1926 he bought both buildings and began renovations that would unify them into a single unit.

The resulting building is seen above,  but in 1926 the statues in the niches were not yet in place.  The next year it was announced that statues of four show women would be chosen to represent the arts of drama, comedy, opera, and movies.  The public was even invited to vote for their favorites, the winners being Ethel Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Rosa Ponselle, and Mary Pickford.  The statues were made by A. Stirling Calder, the father of Alexander Calder of mobile fame.

Unfortunately Israel Miller did not live to see the unveiling of the completed building.  He died in Paris of a heart attack several months before the October, 1929 unveiling.

 

The Broadway side of the building was quite different from the elegant 46th Street facade.  There were pre-existing billboard leases on that side, and so even in the early days of the store, much of the Broadway facade was given over to advertising.  Today, the main entrance is on Broadway, as that is where most of the traffic is, but when this was a store store to the stars, they entered through 46th Street.

I. Miller shoes closed sometime in the 1970s and the building was bought in 1978 by Riese Restaurants, who ran a TGIFriday restaurant there for several decades.  By the late 1990s Riese was saying the store front would be restored, and though they applied for and were granted landmark status, nothing ever came of it.  Eventually the TGIFriday restaurant was closed, and the building taken over by the Express clothing company.

When I visited New York City in August, 2013, I went by to see the building and was dismayed to see it scaffolded over. In New York that could mean anything from restoration to a complete redoing of the building.  To their great credit, as Express readied the interior of the building  for retail, the exterior was renovated to its former glory.

The four statues had to be removed and restored as they were in terrible condition.  Chunks of marble on the building had to be repaired, the bronze was polished, and the entire facade was given a good cleaning.  Today it is one of the best reminders of what shopping in New York City was like in the early and mid 20th century.

When I first read of the shoe store several years ago it struck me as odd that there would be such an elegant store in a part of the city that was not (at that time, anyway) a shopping district.  A little reading about the subject informed me that this was only one of I. Miller’s stores.  The main store was located on Fifth Avenue, and there were two other New York City branches.  Nationwide there were 228 branch stores and several factories.

The mode for black is charmingly met in.. Monograin silk by I. Miller

As all femininity fares forth in Black, Monograin becomes the overwhelming fashion favorite for wear with the new autumn hats, gloves and handbags of this subtly-woven silk.  1930

Ad Campaign – Baker Shoes for Women, 1918

STYLES THAT MAKE STYLE

FOR MANY SEASONS, Baker Styles have played a dominant part in establishing footwear fashion.  Invariably becoming and in perfect taste, they are notable also for an initiative in style that wins the approval of women who dress smartly.

This ad may be for shoes, but all I can see is that fantastic cape.  I’ve never really been a lover of capes, but then I’ve never seen one with such a luxurious looking lining before.  In my imagination, that fabric is an incredibly soft printed cashmere.  Yes, I know it reads as silk, but I want cashmere.

One thing I learned from making that Chanel-ish jacket is that a top quality lining is so important in the way it makes the wearer feel.  One way that clothing manufacturers scrimp is on cheap fabrics for linings.  After having an exceptional silk lining, I’m sure I never want something called acetate next to my skin ever again.

What I Didn’t Buy – Late Edwardian Shoes

I’m pretty sure this needs very little explanation, but I have a bit to say nevertheless.  As you can see, the shoes were in very poor condition to start with, and I’d not have bought them anyway, but using those plastic zip ties on an old object is a crime against vintage!

To be fair, it was really the stand that was for sale with the shoes just thrown in, and I guess the seller just did not want them to get separated.  Still, it seems a very odd way to display items that are for sale.   The end result is that shoes that were already pretty much gone are now crunched up and completely gone.

Instead, what if there was a bit of polish to make them look their best, with nice tissue stuffing to give them shape?  Add some ribbon ties and they might even make a charming display.

I’m not really too upset about these poor old shoes, but it does concern me that a visitor to this shop might see this display and think it is a good idea.   Who knows what might be zip tied in the interest of convenience?

Ad Campaign – Kedettes, 1950

This Kedettes ad from 1950s is interesting because of what it does not say.  There is virtually no ad copy, only the styles, the prices, and a note that the shoes are washable.  But read the illustration, which says that Kedettes are just right for a casual date at the soda shop.

You might have noticed that colored rubber soles are pretty hot right now.  You see them quite a bit on athletic shoes, of course, but makers of street shoes, like Cole Haan have added them to oxfords  and loafers.  It rather nice seeing the same trend from 64 years ago.  There really isn’t much new under the fashion sun.