Boots, purple faille high-button, 1880s-1900s, side and front view

1880s-1900s. High-button walking boots. Purple faille fabric with a vamp (toe) coming to a rounded toe in front and extending in back to the middle of the arch of the foot. The top has a center front seam and a closed-tab curved fly on the outside of the boot, made with an overlap instead of a separate tongue and closing with nine domed buttons. The buttonhole side is reinforced with leather. The top edge is cut into two points in front and in back. The sole is leather with a knock-on stacked leather heel and high, exaggerated toe spring. Lined in cotton. A woven label is sewn into the lining at the top of the boot and another is stamped into the leather of the insole. Professionally made. Machine-sewn.

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.

Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.