FLY London Shoes

FLY London funky mega strapped open=toed sandal.

60s come 20s two-toned wedged ankle-strapped shoe 

Style Inspiration
FLY London shoes have a huge range, some of which have a distinctly vintage feel, reminiscent not just of the 60s but of the 1920s and 30s, which were an influence on the mod generation - they're retro but with a distinctly modern stamp.

A UK company, FLY London describes itself as "the brand of universal youth fashion culture" - "progressive and never conventional". Okay, well it's a spiel but these shoes are a bit different (and no, they didn't pay me to say that). I liked them so much I set up an Amazon shop, which also includes a men's range.

1960s Shoes

The Influential Mods

Modern Go-Gos

The British Mod movement in the early half of the 1960s defined much of that decade's style - as everyone knows, it was a revolutionary period in fashion as well as attitude. Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, Ben Sherman helped set the tone for hair and clothes and for shoes, designer Beth Levine re-introduced the boot to 60s women and Andre Courrages took it to new levels of funkiness and the white boot became emblematic of the era.

Boots came in various colours and designs to suit mods and non-mods -fur lined ankle boots, white gogo boots in various heights, riding boots, brown or black leather knee-highs, classic blue and white canvas gym boots and later, lace-up Granny boots.

Over the Knee Boots

Boots for shiny red legs. Source

Over the knee boots or thigh highs have been worn by fisherman in the form of rubber waders for generations but as a women's fashion statement, they only began to be worn in the latter half of the 20th century and then only by a confident few.

Those who are interested in fashion, history, and how the two intersect can find info on classes via Online Colleges.

Not for the Fainthearted

Although they expose less bare leg than standard knee boots, thigh boots carry a certain risque connotation, perhaps because they're an extreme version of a boot and thus not totally mainstream. That's not to say you have to work in an S&M den to wear them.

Over the years, they've been featured  in various  designer collections but they're really an item that has too be worn with supreme chutzpah to carry off the look, otherwise it's easy to feel and probably look, faintly ridiculous. However, when they work, they can be strikingly effective.

Dr Martens: Boots, Shoes and Accessories

In the fickle fashion world of youth culture, there are few footwear manufacturers as iconic as the British brand, Dr Martens or Doc Martens as they are often called. Since the 1950s, Docs have been worn by such diverse groups and subcultures as skinheads, punks, yuppies, hippies, housewives and teens.

In Australia we had a young politician who regularly wore Dr Martens - a trivial fashion detail the media made a feature of, emphasizing the shoes as indicative of her youth and 'grooviness' level. The politician...Natasha Stott Despoja, claimed her chunky shoes "generated more comment than my political policies". How did this distinctive shoe style come about and why did it take off? Are they still hip or has popularity made them too mainstream and thus passe?

Red High Heeled Shoes

Nine West Flax Pump

Not sure if Freud had something to say about this but there's something about a red high-heeled shoe that is very, very sexy. Perhaps because it's a blend of red; the traditional colour of passion and the general sex-appeal of heels....or maybe something else.

According to a study by psychologist's at the University of Rochester,  "the color red makes men feel more amorous toward women", although the men themselves may not be conscious of it. And it's not just human males that are affected, as non-human male primates also respond amorously to red. There seems to be some sort of deep-rooted biological imperative going on there.

The Colour Red Attracts Men to Women

An Excitable Colour

Sexier version of Dorothy's shoes by Leg Avenue

The colour red and it's connections with femininity has featured significantly in Western culture - it's the hue of the scarlet woman, the Jezebel, who likes to be noticed and admired. It's the colour of Valentine's Day - symbolic of love and desire.

Red lips are associated with heightened sexuality (the result of a rush of blood to the area)..a fact that didn't escape the attention of the lipstick manufacturers. Traditionally, when women want to look attractive they colour their lips and cheeks  red.

Red shoes too, appear in our stories and fairytales...

Red is the colour of Dorothy's shoes in the Wizard of Oz, which, when clicked, spirit her away to the safety and reassurance of home in Kansas.

Unstoppable Shoes

Poster for The Archers 1948 film, The Red Shoes

In the mid 19th century, Hans Christian Anderson wrote a fairytale about a young peasant girl whose vanity leads her to obsess over a pair of red shoes "fit for a Princess". The girl wears the shoes everywhere, even to church, where the holy images seem to frown in disapproval.

A soldier makes a  remark about her beautiful dancing shoes and she begins to dance..and dance and dance, to the point where she cannot stop. The shoes assume a life-force of their own and the poor exhausted girl is forced to dance everywhere - over hills, down dales and through meadows and towns.

At one point an angel appears and informs her she will have to keep dancing even after she dies, as a warning to other girls who may be inclined toward the same sort of vanity. Finally the girl begs an executioner to sever her feet from her body, which he does but the shoes continue to dance with her severed feet inside, barring her way when she tries to enter a church. When she tries again the following week, she is again barred by the shoes. Desolate in her home, she prays sincerely to God and redeems herself to the angel, who relents and offers her a spray of roses.

So what is the moral here? Beware of funky red shoes in shop windows? Hmmm...

Dolce Vita rosetta pumps

Ankle Strap Shoes

Ankle  straps, as the name suggests, are shoes that have single or multi straps around the ankles - as opposed to a sling back, which has a strap around the top of the heel.

Sam Edelman ankle strap shoes

Assuming one has reasonable ankles and not cankles!, as shoes go, its a very sexy, flattering look. Ankle straps first came on the scene in the 1920s at a time when designers were getting a lot more adventurous with shoe styles.

As skirts had got considerably shorter, shoes became a more prominent part of an outfit - a feature, rather than something which peeped out from the bottom of a long skirt.

However it was in the glamour decade of the 1940s that ankle strap shoes really hit their stride. During this decade many a Hollywood style queen strutted her slim ankles in high heels and ankle straps.

Since then a variety of shoe styles has come and gone but ankle straps remain an option - their ultra-feminine, distinctive look is always an eye catcher on a nicely turned ankle.

Dorothy Lamour in 1940s white ankle straps

1920s inspired cow wrinkle patent leather Nolita shoes. At Mimco

Camper Shoes

Camper black and cream Combo shoes have a 60s look

Camper Shoes began in Barcelona in 1981 and grew and grew until the point they now have over 300 stores in cities worldwide. They claim to transcend cultures through innovative design, responding to a "new international reality". Hmm...I don't about that but they do have some very appealing shoes, some of which seem inspired by past decades. The shoe sandal above has a distinct Mary Quant look.

Camper cream and tan casual men's shoe

 The tan and whte Peu shoe above is reminiscent of the two-toned shoes of the early 20s but overlayed with a contemporary sporty look. A jazz feel in a casual, laid book shoe.

Piruete girls shoe

Piruete is from the Camper for Kids range and according to website blurb, is a shoe created for "kids who want to be ballerinas". The design is classical and sweetly feminine, with the stylish white folds along the T bar. A rubber, sole, padded inset and velcro grips make it a practical as well as a 'romantic' choice.

1920s Shoes

1920s T bar shoes

Shoe design in the 1920s departed somewhat from the high button boots and jet embroidered slippers prevalent in previous decades As hemlines rose, shoes became more prominent and thus there was more to show off. Ankle straps with side buttons and  T-bars  were among the popular styles of the era. Heels were generally quite high. - 2 inch or 21 and 1/2 inch curved or block. Some shoe styles lent themselves to  decoration with sequins, clasps and diamantes, particularly for evening wear.

Toes tended to be gently pointed and arches high and beautifully shaped to flatter the foot, though towards the end of the decade more rounded toes and flatter heels were coming into vogue. Contrasting coloured heels, decorated with patterns or even rhinestones were also fashionable, as were satin pumps, decorated with clasps, beads and sequins. Popular colours of the period included bronze, black, silver, gold, navy, green and various pastels.

1920s brown "Semi-Oxford" Paragon shoe. Image from the Melbourne Museum website.

The three basic styles of pumps, ankle straps and T bars were closed toe  and were worn throughout the decade; it wasn't until the 1930s that open toed shoes made a mainstream appearance. For casual wear, women wore lower heeled Mary Janes, Oxford brogues or button up boots styles. Heel decorations were sometimes very elaborate, especially in the high fashion stratosphere of Paris - there's some wonderful sketch examples of 1920s exquisitely detailed heel work, revealed in a Parisian trade catalogue at rarefashionbooks, which you can view here.

The influence of 1920s shoe designers is still evident in many of the shoes of today - classic styles that remain eternally elegant, defying trends which come and go with the decades.

Early 20s criss-cross, 'Tango' shoes

White Boots

Cheerleader, Amber van Eeghen in retro white boots

Go-go boots - flattish, calf, knee or over-knee high vinyl or leather boots, were a hot item in the 1960s and for a while there, there was a real craze for funky white ones. They stood out on the discotheque floor, looked striking with bright, psychedelic colours, mini-skirts, accentuated good legs, drew unwanted attention to bad ones but worked 'specially well with a tan or flesh-coloured stockings.

Mod look boots were not so much self-consciously sexy (though they were sexy) as deliberately perky. They were also super-comfortable, as they weren't too tight and the wearer didn't have to totter around in high heels.

Moon Girls

Hard to believe but before go-go boots came on the scene, women's boots were generally only worn for specific activities - such as horse-riding or as weather protection and they were almost never white, unless they were ice-skating boots.

It wasn't until 1964, when innovative designer Andre Courrages unwrapped his Moon Girl collection that go-go boots made their world debut. Courrage paired his white, low-heeled plastic footwear with flared mini-skirts and out-there accents on the clothes, such as clear plastic portholes and stripes.

The look was a raging success and it wasn't long before go-go boots were out in the streets. Fashion-wise, Mods were risk-takers and welcomed anything that looked good and at the same time, set them apart from the conservative fashion status quo.


 

Not 60s but still groovy. FLY London white knee boots

White boots have never really regained the swoop of popularity they had in the 1960s, yet with the right outfit (and on the right legs) they can look sensational.

These days the white boot tends to be reserved for the ultra-trendy, who are confident enough to want to stand out amid the browns and blacks.