Boots

French, Shriner & Urner

1915–25 · leather, wool · Costume Institute

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.

Artist

French, Shriner & Urner

Date

1915–25

Medium

leather, wool

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Brooklyn Museum Collection