The riding boot was the symbol of a free man, a man who had finally liberated himself from the confines of buckled shoes, gleaming parquet floors and the oppressive air of the courts.
Pseudonym of Karl Gottlieb Samuel Heun (1771-1854), a purveyor of sentimental and mildly titillating fiction to the German middle classes. 1
> quickly became evident that elastic-sided boots could not be worn without the charity of a concealing long trouser leg. Our officers used to wear gaiters to conceal them, and were justifiably unhappy when uniform regulations were more strictly applied and the infantry was forbidden to wear gaiters. For us, elastic-sided boots are dead, as dead as the tailcoat during daylight hours, the comic effect of which can only be appreciated when we go for a walk with it in the street. Even in sweltering heat we have to put on an overcoat to cover up, or take a cab. Producing a comic effect: that has been the death knell for any item of clothing.
As a result of their various pedestrian activities, the foot of our upper crust is no longer as small as it used to be. They are getting bigger and bigger. The Englishman’s and the Englishwoman’s big feet no longer incur the mockery that they used to. We climb mountains as well, ride bicycles and – horribile dictu – are developing “English” feet. But, this is hardly a disturbing process. The small foot is slowly beginning to lose its attraction, especially in a man. I recently was sent a description of Rigo from America. One of his acquaintances begins: “I knew the gypsy,” and in the course of the description that follows states: “A pair of disgustingly small feet were peering out from under his trousers.” Disgustingly small feet! It sounds convincing, this new doctrine from America: disgustingly small feet. Poor Saint Heinrich Clauren,1 if you heard that, you whose heroes could never have had small feet enough, on which in noble virility they danced into the dreams of a hundred thousand maidens. Tempora mutantur… Button shoes, which are acceptable only in patent leather, should be mentioned here as well. They are shoes for leisure. Where patent leather shoes are required, such as with full‑dress uniforms, the English as well as their aristocratic regiment wear patent leather boots with polished legs under their trousers. The only acceptable dancing shoes are patent leather (pumps).
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Adolf Loos (1870-1933) was an Austrian architect and an influential early proponent of modern architecture. Footwear/Shoes is taken from Metroverlag’s English-language edition of Loos’ Why A Man Should Be Welldressed: Appearances Can be Revealing (2011). Translation: Michael Edward Troy. This essay has been mildly edited for style.
160 Disegno. FOOTWEAR/SHOES