Two Two-Toned Shoes

            While I have varied taste in shoes I have always had a soft spot for certain designs, one of them being two-toned or "spectator" shoes. The first pair are from around the mid 1940's. I got them off eBay along with the second pair of boots. I love these shoes due to their classic 1940's styling, as well as a beautiful shade of brown. The brown wingtip portion of the shoe is regular leather, while the white is a very soft suede, and you can still feel the chalk in the original coloring! You can date shoes like this by looking at some unique styling that can help pinpoint an era. The dramatic shape of the sole is called a "Spade" leather sole, it is called this because of the triangular shape. Also, almost all shoes of that era and earlier had only half leather lining, the rest towards the toe of the shoe is lined with canvas (another structural change in shoe construction), with the canvas the shoe kept better shape, and I find it helps keep your foot from sliding around the inside if the shoe is a bit too big, which these are on me.

            The next shoes date to the early 1900's, and are a classic example of button-up boots. These were also an eBay purchase of mine, but unfortunatly they do not fit in the least. They too have the two-toned look, where the bottom portion is black and the top is brown. They have an even more pronounced "Spade" sole, as well as the canvas lining. These shoes are an early product of the Florsheim Shoe co. which was founded in 1892 and still makes good quality shoes to this day.


            Unfortunately the first shoes I displayed have also fallen victim to the "Gangster" label, but that is no reason not to wear them! They still make for a dynamite pair of shoes for a sunny summers stroll.

Cheers,
Mr. Speakeasy