Across 250 years of American influence, shoes have done far more than protect our feet. They have comforted them, reflected cultural movements, danced through the night with us and even landed on the moon.
While footwear practicality reigned in America’s earliest years, shoes began to dominate the fashion conversation after the dawn of the 20th century.
Day dress and tap shoes at the races, 1925. Getty Images. 1950s era saddle oxfords and bobbie socks. Fairchild Archive
Mary Janes and T-straps energized the flapper era, while the 1930s pushed shoemakers toward inventive materials like cork, raffia and cord and new styles such as pumps and slingbacks. The style shifts cames as two World Wars and the Great Depression dramatically impacted life in America. The timeline merged with Hollywood glam, heightened by the appeal of pinup girls and ingénues, defining the era. By 1947, post-war sophistication had returned with Christian Dior’s “New Look” favoring ultra-feminine pointed-toe pumps, while America embraced its potential in sportswear, putting preppy style on course. And in the mid-1950s, saddle shoes and kitten heels paired perfectly with youthful rebellion as T-shirts, jeans, and collegiate staples upended the status quo.
Platform, peep toe, sandals at the Grand Ballroom disco nightclub and Yoko Ono in hot pants and over the knee boots, New York, 1973. Peter Simins/Fairchild Archive
Entering the 1960s, sock hops made way for Woodstock’s shock, where social politics pushed hippies in huaraches and thongs into the mainstream. From there forward, technology and innovation would continue to widen fashion’s global reach, seeing footwear styles change as quickly as style itself. Then came the 1970s, when Americans danced to disco in designer jeans and hot pants, styled with platform shoes thicker and higher than ever before or thigh-high boots.
Crocs on the runway at Christian Cowan spring 2023 fashion show, New York. Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
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When material-world glitz and glamour returned in the 1980s, women had already begun to break the corporate glass ceiling in an era where power suits and sneakers—for power walking, of course—met urban city motivation. The 1990s, ushered in a new era of optimism, with iconic shoe silhouettes from past eras on repeat. And as the industry braced for the millennium, with Uggs and flip-flops and crocs in tow, shoes, like fashion, merged luxury with street style, defining the cultural shifts to come.
