MISFIT


I could see. No theme, no pattern, no POS material. It seemed that the manager had tried to, and seemingly succeeded, put a specimen of every model he had in stock in the window with a large price ticket on each. These were supplemented by cards bearing useful legends like “leather soles” “also in brown” “latest fashion”. Apart from these there was no attempt to use the window as a selling tool, to get the passing public to come in and buy. As the shop door was recessed they did, however, have the chance to get


S Then and Now


out of the rain while they studied the stock. These shop doorways were used in the evening by young persons who wished to get better acquainted – I confess to having used them myself for this purpose. This sort of window used to be quite common, indeed there is one not far from here.


I suppose


they have customers as antique as their shop, which has just been listed so the layout cannot be changed. Whether the listing applies to the stock and the Clientele I cannot say. Back to the photo. What fascinated me was the small


orting out some old papers I came across a large picture of a shop window with the date 1955 on the back. Just why it was taken or by who I cannot say. It was fascinating. There was no attempt at window dressing as far as


While it was a colour photo, it had faded so it was hard to make out the


colours but I knew from experience what they were. Women could chose from a scintillating range of black, navy, white, assorted shades of brown and beige and the season’s colour which would be something adventurous, like tangerine or eucalyptus. I seem to remember the first was a disaster and the second a steady seller, which meant that stocking the colour the pundits chose was in effect much the same as putting money on a horse. I may be being a bit severe. The war ended in 1945 but food rationing only


came to an end in 1954 (thanks, Google), a year before the photo, so it was still a time of austerity, but it was also a period when conformity ruled. Prices were controlled, I’m not sure whether by the government or manufacturers. I remember when I started in retail asking a rep. the price of a certain style and he answered with the retail price. When I, with an eye to my very very limited budget, asked how much I would have to pay, he was completely at a loss.


selection. Every square inch of window was packed with shoes but there was little actual variety when you looked more carefully. As I say the entire range was there, from slippers right up to quite expensive courts, comprising variations on a small number of basic styles. In the men’s window there were oxfords, gibsons, a buckle style, lace-up boots, dealer boots, all in a range of colours that started with black and went right through to brown, with variations on those themes, like exciting concepts such as number of eyelets, sole material, construction, upper material and in one case possible use. This was a black patent oxford which bore a label proudly proclaiming “evening wear” which begged the question what else they could be used for. Hardly on the building site. The ladies’ window was a little more adventurous. This was when the


I may be being a bit severe. The war ended in 1945 but food rationing only came to an end in 1954 (thanks, Google), a year before the photo, so it was still a time of austerity, but it was also a period when conformity ruled. Prices were controlled, I’m not sure whether by the government or manufacturers.


How different things are today. Far a start anyone who crammed


stiletto heel had just been invented. There had been thin high heels before but they were made of wood and were only for the leisured classes who did not use them for actual walking. The new ones were moulded plastic with a threaded metal dowel down


the middle into which was screwed a metal bolt which served as a top-piece. They might have been stronger and cheaper than their predecessors, but they still broke easily, making for jolly refunds and credit notes galore. I digress. The stilettos were there at the front of the window, with older


stock displayed less prominently behind them.; pointed toe T-bars seemed to have been the thing that season, backed up by single bars and plain courts and that was it, except for a glace kid lace-up lurking at the back of the window, possibly just in case an elderly lady happened to pass by. Incongruous in a shop which seemed to pride itself on being up to minute in fashion. Then I remembered there was a time when the “must have” for every teenage girl was granny boots, a craze that lasted all of three weeks.


10 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • OCTOBER 2010


everything on offer into the window would be thought mad, and the available range of styles and colours, constructions and materials seems almost infinite. Not only that, but the conventions have been thrown out of the window. I have seen men cheerfully wearing trainers with a suit and an elegant and pricey pair of ladies’courts teamed with a pair of cheap jeans. I also saw an elegant lady who was not embarrassed to adorn a carefully chosen ensemble with a comfy pair of purple Crocs®


. It used to be that designers were very junior birds in the pecking order


doing what they were told, in fact almost a superior breed of pattern cutter, but that is all changed. Now they rule the roost and are free to do as they please. New materials, new treatments, even new constructions that their forebears never even dreamed of are available for them to play with. Shoes, which used to be utilitarian objects, are now almost works of art. And so is window dressing. No-one today would dream of filling an entire


window with everything in stock. Nowadays the idea of a window is to entice the customers inside. What we do once they have crossed the threshold is a different matter. I suspect that they got a better deal in 1955.


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