Vintage Shoes: Collecting and Wearing Twentieth-Century Designer Footwear

by Caroline Cox

Caroline Cox takes fashion lovers on an exquisite journey through the most stylish footwear of the twentieth century. Vintage Shoes illuminates the crucial designers, key technical breakthroughs, and varied cultural influences that have shaped shoe fashion for the last hundred years—from André Perugia’s designs for society women in the 1920s to the Christian Louboutin red-soled shoes favored by celebrities today, and including designs by Salvatore Ferragamo, Charles Jourdan, Roger Vivier, Beth Levine, Vivienne Westwood, Manolo Blahnik, and others. Lavish fashion photography, specially commissioned photographs of rare period footwear, and a unique shopping guide—with tips on sourcing and caring for articles of vintage fashion—help make Vintage Shoes an unforgettable tour through a dazzling corner of haute couture history.

Genres: Fashion, Art, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2008

About the author

Caroline Cox, professor of cultural history at the University of the Arts London, is a leading fashion authority whose work explores the relationship between fashion, beauty, and culture. A lecturer and broadcaster, she is also a cultural trends advisor at Vidal Sassoon.

Reviews

[Nicole Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fashion history is very interesting to learn about because the influences of societal standards of beauty say a lot about the values of the time. This book does a really great job of breaking down the different designers that were popular during the different decades and what influenced them to create the shoes that they did.

Plus, who doesn't want to sit down for a little while and look at pictures of shoes. Most of them are even beautiful.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh now, I did so love this book.

It's one of those books, I think you find by accident but it's such a good read. Especially if you're a shoe lover, like myself. It's got a lot of little quirky facts that you might not've known if you hadn't read this. There's definitely a bit to learn in this book and there are some genuinely beautiful pictures in this book.

[Taru Luojola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erittäin hyvin koottu systemaattinen esittely 1900-luvun eri vuosikymmenten kenkämuotiin. Esitellyt tyylit ja suunnittelijat tosiaan esitellään eikä vain mainita, ja kirjan tyyli on enimmäkseen kuvaava ja pääosin stereotyyppistä arvostelua karttava. Kuvia on runsaasti, ja jokaiseen kuvaan liittyy hyvä kuvateksti. Suurin miinus ja hämmästelyn aihe kirjassa on suomenkielisen laitoksen väärin kirjoitettu nimi. Häpeä, Otava!

[Rose English · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Heavenly Read for the Shoe Addict

I adore this book being a shoe addict myself it gives a wonderful history of the shoe, from famous designers to the intricate designs themselves.

What's more it is packed with lots of beautiful images for us to drool over. Perfect.

Very Highly Recommended for Shoe Lovers

[Kelasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

almost makes me want to trade in my mules. Almost . . .

[Jenny Wuehrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and fun. Learned a lot about the history of shoes - did you know platforms were first popular in the 40's??

[Hanaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! A must have.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting look at shoes from every decade. I enjoyed seeing some of the looks and finding out the stories behind them.

[Aroosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this like, alot. it learns you about the "shoe history" the perfect book for every fashionista ;)

[Melody · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fun and light.