Shoes, white canvas Oxfords, 1930s, detail of toe and heel

1930s. Oxford shoe. White cotton canvas with a vamp (toe) coming to an oval point in front that is finished with a diamond-shaped toe tip of white leather with a pinked edge and perforations. The vamp extends in back to the middle of the arch of the foot. The quarters (backs) are sewn together at center back, and the top edge of the quarters wraps to the front and forms the front-lacing open-tabs of the shoe. The top and tabs are finished with white leather with a pinked edge and perforations, and the back seam of the quarters is covered with the same pinked leather. Seven pairs of metal grommets are set into the tabs, laced over a tongue with a white lace tipped with narrow metal aiglets. The tongue is cut with a rounded top edge extending just past the level of the top of the lacing tabs. The sole is leather with a knock-on fabric-covered heel. The vamp is lined in cotton and the quarters are lined in leather. 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.