Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-25
NEW THINGS AND OLD IN
q TOLD OF
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, May 25:-Back
to Egypt is almost back to nature in
one point at least-sandals. The
modern fapper. in her desperate
effort to dress like King Tut and his
wife, is wearing shoes that come
very near to the primitive.
The sandals or the super-stylish
young woman of today may be of
lavender kid decorated with gilt
bands, but apart from expensive
ness Of material and the neatness
Of machine work, they are still close
ly akin to the oldest and simplest
style of footwear known.
It is supposed that back in pre-
| historic days, some savage who grew
weary OF stepping on unexpected
thorns and stones seized a piece
Of animal skin and a bit of sinew
and laboriously evolved a way of
fastening a sole to his foot.
A tanner, writing in the American
Shoemaker foresees that fashion
is leading US moderns to where we
shall all be primitive shoemakers
like this cave man. Referring to the
tendency to cut the uppers Of wo-
mems slippers in fancy openwork
patterns, he says:
IF they keep on cutting away
the uppers of shoes there soon
won't be anything left but a sole
and straps. Then a person having a
mechanical skill gained from fixing
up the fivver will go to the ten cent
store and get a pair of soles for a
dime, a pair of skate straps for an
other dime, and a package Of tacks
for q nickel. Taking them home, he
will tack the straps to the soles and
make himself a pair of Egyptian san
dals all for a quarter.
Then he concludes sadly, the
occupation of shoemaker will be
about as active as that of stage
coach driver"
The tanner apparently takes it for
granted that men as well as women
| will soon be displaying primitive
footwear. His satiric shaft might be
taken seriously if it were not for
the fact that fashion determines the
/ clothing TO be worn, and fashion Is
| cratic and tickle. Even il homemade
shoes became a craze, the craze
| would last only a brief season. Then,
It least so far as the ONE arc
concerned, a reaction would probably
set in and the ultra-fashionables
would appear in hip boots.
Shoes Are Now Sensible
But IL we cannot honestly fore
/ cast the sensational prospect OF
| shoes becoming truly and perman-
| emily primitive, we can point out one
striking fact. This is that for the
moment at least, shoes are compare
! lively sensible, as they have not
been in the good old days of the
past and as they may not be in the
| mysterious future.
Shoes with the uppers cut into
fantastic patterns and other shoes
with scarcely any uppers at all are
said bv foot experts to afford an ef1c-
lent ventilation system for hot
weather, Heels are reasonably low
as they have been now for some
time. and the shape Of the modern
shoe makes some pretense OF follow
ing the foot. These facts may be
taken as a matter of course, but they
become really remarkable wfan Yor
delve into shoe history. In no depart
ment of dress has there been NOR
exaggeration and extravaganza thar
in shoes.
After the French revolution wheT
simplicity was the watchword, thu
shoes of a lady of fashion became
so extremely simple that the sole
we're no thicker than the satin up
pers. Two or three of these fragile
slippers might be worn out in an or
binary evenings dancing, withou
the wearer's attempting any endur
Iance tests.
In one year, the Empress Jose
phine had more than $50 pairs o
these Impractical pairs Of shoes mao
for herself. It is said that on on
occasion she complained to her boot
maker that a pair had become use
less in one brief wearing.
The bootmaker looked at the wori
out sole and said: "Ah, yes, You
Majesty, l see what has caused Il
You must have walked in It
In an earlier era. ome of Nenio
and to a less extent those of Franc
and England, increased their heigh
by walking on chopines. These wer
tall stills fastened to the shoes. VIC
men of the upper middle class mai
aged to teeter about on chopine
three or four inches high. But cour
ladies who could command servant
or gallants to assist them achieve
{ a greater altitude by walking o
choDines twelve inches tall.
AS we go further into history, fooi
lwear is no less extrayagant and i'm
= rLR