If the shoe fits...

As you'll have noticed, I have a bent for old-fashioned fashion. And after Morag's 'bran-new' post about new shoes, I thought I'd take a look at - you guessed it - old shoes!

Really, really old shoes don't get preserved much. I mean, a good shoe only lasts so long, you can't keep passing it down. And archaeologically speaking, organic materials are some of the first to go, so early shoes are a rare and exciting find.

Roman shoes, 2nd century AD, found in Scotland in a well along the Antonine Wall. 

Fabulous medieval shoes. I would wear those! 

The fascinating thing that I found with shoes it that, like clothes, styles come and go, and even the most modern trends may really be just an echo of something that was popular hundreds of years ago. Take, for instance, the 16th century chopine shoes. Very like platform shoes!

Fancy velvet chopines - 16th century!

More 16th century chopines. 

17th century heels. Aren't they lovely?

17th century. I love the fabric & the buckles.

18th century.

18th century.

These look quite modern to me. Surprisingly, they're from the Regency era, around 1800.

Plain, ballet-like shoes of the 1830s.

More examples of 1830s shoes.

1860s. These are lovely, and at first glance could pass as modern shoes.

Very fancy 1860s shoes.

1890s shoes. Very fancy. They hark back to the 17th century shoes quite a bit!

Crazy pointy heels from the 1890s.

Lovely shoes from about 1910.

Heels from 1912. Lovely.

The 1920s might be my favourite era for heels. I love the shape of 1920s shoes. So fabulous!

Pink 20's heels. Ooh!

Simpler 20s heels, but still lovely.

And we come full circle with platform shoes from the 1960s and '70s. 

1960s

1970s

What do you think? Will fashion keep borrowing from the past? Do you prefer chopines or platform shoes? Which styles should be revived?