First Draft: Shoes of the Past to the Shoes You’ve Come to Know Today

Introduction

Look down at your feet right now. Are you wearing shoes? If so why did you pick those out and not one of your other pairs? Now think about what drove you to pick that shoe and you’ll begin to see what affect fashion has on your daily choices today. Are your shoes comfortable, have heels, or even multicolored. All these different choices that are and option today were limited or even unheard of in the1800’s. This paper will cover the similarities and differences of shoes during the 1800’s and shoes of today by divulging in the shoes technology and production, the trends of shoes, and lastly the importance of shoes in everyday life.

Body

Similarities

Even though shoes in the 1800’s may have been different in many aspects there are also some characteristics that have been around since the 1800’s in America and continue to survive today. For example shoes in the 1800’ were around to serve the same purpose as today, to get your feet from point A to point B and be protected. Shoes in the 1800’s were used as an indication of whether or not an American was wealthy. If a woman wore a popular style of thin slippers she was to be seen as wealthy due to the fact that she didn’t wear boot or other sorts of working boots. It meant she could stay off her feet all day and not be doing labor outside. Shoes were also changed in the 1800’s when a left and right shoe was introduced. “Before the mass production of the Industrial Revolution, shoes for both right and left feet were the same. The 1880's saw the beginning of shoes made specifically for the right or left foot.” ( ) .

Shoes today like the shoes in the 1800’s have carried on many of the common attributions in America made during the industrial revolution. S...

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...e, there was also the similarity of shoes showing a sign of social placement.

The main differences between shoes in the 1800’s and shoes today are the technology and production, the styles, and the importance it plays on daily lives. This included the advancements that shoes today have made involving electricity rather than the production process that was improved in the 1800’s. There is also the fact that shoe’s style has become vast and varied compared to the 1800’s where there were few variations and socially accepted choices for shoes. Lastly importance has changed on shoes, mainly so because there are many different options in shoes which can be chosen and different purposes and events in which the shoes may be used today while in the 1800’s shoes were used to work or walk and there were sets of traditions that aren’t practiced today that were in the 1800’s.