The Myth of Tiny Feet "Back Then"
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
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The idea that feet were smaller "back then" is a story almost as old as "back then" is! While Cinderella feet certainly did exist and were often referenced in poetry and stories, it doesn't really give us a full and accurate concept of actual shoe size in the past. But how do we go about giving numbers to an era before records like that were kept? If we look at shoes in museums, they often look impossibly tiny. And plenty of documents from the early 20th century talk about the "size 3" feet of women past. Does that evidence amount to enough? Of course not!
Just like clothing styles and construction have changed, so have shoes. They aren't made like they used to be! So there's a lot more than just an arbitrary number assigned. How shoes fit, how feet were measured, and what survives all skew our modern view. Simply put, a size 3 isn't a size 3 and a small shoe often holds many secrets.
Our modern sizing system wasn't really put into place until 1887, and even then it wasn't a guarantee. While sized shoes had been sold commonly since the 18th century, every manufacture had their own chart. And to further complicate the matter, the chart continued to slowly shift well into the mid-20th century. And it seems to have been slow enough that no one even noticed! A size 3 in 1870 measures a size 5 in 1920 and a size 7 in 2021. So what happened?
And this doesn't even touch on the tricks employed to give the illusion of small feet. Everything from placement of bows to high heels to painting the soles black was mentioned in shoemaking manuals and magazine articles. The Victorians certainly had an interest in the fashion of small feet, but most could only fake it. And, as it turns out, the Edwardians were FAR less concerned with this aspect and ushered in a few decades of long pointed toes!
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00:00 Introduction
05:46 Museum Bias
10:56 Shoe Sizes
23:26 Deception
🎶Music via Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com) 
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There is this line in “A little princess” by Francis H. Burnett where the students meet Sarah for the first time and Jessie admires how tiny Sarah’s feet are, but Lavignia answers: “That’s just the way her shoes are made. My mamma says all feet can look tiny if you have a clever shoemaker.”
I loved that book! Everyone knows about the secret garden but very few people read that one.
@@saritshull3909 I love everything of Burnett, but “the little Princess” is my favorite. Did you know there is a couple of free Audiobooks of it made by librivox? I love version 2 read by Karen Savage. She does the voices so nicely. I often listen to it to fall asleep, that’s why I can quote even such weird parts like comments on shoes…
I thought of that exact quote lol
My favorite book as a child 😭💖🌸
I only know the story of a little princess from the shirley temple film but I do remember this being said in the movie
I definitely agree that surviving garments (especially shoes) might relate to the age of the original wearer. The growth spurt of the average teen girl means she could run through several sizes in the space of a year (I did!) The shoes are barely worn out, but they no longer fit and are relegated to the attic, perhaps to be saved for another girl, but never worn again as the styles change. And sooo, we’re left with the idea that women’s feet were much smaller.
The amount of shoes we go through is unreal, and my daughter’s very nearly into adult size shoes even though she’s just almost 10 years old. Some of the ones we got her to wear for special occasions, she only ever wore once before she grew out of them. So I can see how a lot of tween/teen shoes would survive.
@@elisabethmontegna5412 yes, exactly!
I’ve never actually had that growth spurt, my biggest one went from 150cm to 160 cm in like 2 years lol and that was when I was 14 and now I’m an adult and I wear the same shoe size and I’m still this tall, I feel like something is wrong with me now :3 I guess my shoe grow spurt was when I was a kid and not teen?
@@Iera_Thaumaturgy kids’ feet seem to get big before they get a growth spurt in height. I’ve heard a lot of moms say, “I hope they’ll grow into their feet!” My daughter usually goes up a couple shoe sizes over the summer while only growing very little in height and the guys at the shoe store say that’s pretty typical (they’ve been in business 100 years so I trust they know what’s what). So your feet probably did have growth spurts before you grew a lot in height. 😁
@@elisabethmontegna5412 wow that’s funny to know! We were all little hobbits then haha
I was shocked about going through 3-7 pairs of shoes per year, until I realized people didn’t drive everywhere back then. They walked. A lot.
That's true but people also got their shoes repaired back then by a proper cobbler
They also rode horses 🐎 and we still walk a lot in Europe btw :)
The materials also weren’t as durable. Thin leather all sewn together vs thick leather, rubber, or plastic glued together
@@xErinxx i beg to differ. with clothes, theirs were clearly more durable and there wasnt so much of a fast fashion still, but with shoes, i think fast fashion and materials make it a 1:1, even if because of different things. shoes in the past were made of natural materials that decay with friction and use, todays shoes arent as abused by friction but theyre made with hot glue and fall apart on two years or so.
@@portobeIIa I’m not talking about clothes just shoes, and idk what shoes you’re buying but 2 years? Seriously? I’m still wearing the boots I got in high school about 8 years ago and I literally hike in them
I appreciate seeing a video on this topic. I was particularly interested in the shift you mention in the sizing that happened in the late 1950s. My mother, born in 1915, always said that shoe sizes changed in the late 50s. She had shoes in her closet that were size 8 and suddenly she was wearing a size 9.
Here is anecdotal information about shoe sizes in my family. Perhaps it may be of use to you someday when you are writing an article.
My grandmother was born in 1883. Her toes were terribly crippled from having been forced into shoes that were too small. The toes lapped over each other, making the foot into a pointed shape. According to her, pointed toes were supposed to make your foot look small because only the point would peep out from under a long skirt. To wear such shoes with short skirts didn’t make sense in her opinion.
My mother always considered herself to be tall - she was 5’6” - and to have big feet. No amount of argument would convince her otherwise and it always hurt her when her friends bragged about their small shoe size.
I was born in 1943 and by the time I was 13 years old I was the same height as my mother and wore the same shoe size. I was convinced my feet were abnormally big until I found that my fellow 10th graders all wore the size I did.
My father was tall and wore a size 13 shoe. He died in 1985, and in the final years of his life it delighted him that he was able to buy shoes in his size in any shoe store. For most of his life he had had to go to a store that specialized in large sizes.
Finally, my husband put himself through college by working at Kirby’s Shoe Store between 1960 and 1966. When I spoke of my big feet he laughed at me and said that size 9 was the first size to sell out. He also had many funny stories of women who bought shoes without trying them on, insisting, “I know what size I wear. I’ll get them on at home.” The store had a policy that if stitching broke on a shoe or a boot - this was when boots were very fashionable - the store considered the shoes had been bought. If a customer insisted on buying shoes that were obviously too small the person selling the shoes would mark on the receipt, “Sold small by request.” That meant the shoes could not be returned.
I hope I have not bored you by all this detail, but I was inspired by your video!
Hi Dorothy! I was delighted by your comment. Felt like grandma telling me stories about family and her life! Thank you for sharing.
Have a lovely day
Hi Dorothy, thank you so much for sharing! What a wonderful insight.
My husband's Grandmother offered me her shoes when she was getting rid of them. She's about 5'6. I'm about 5'9, but I have small feet for my height, around a size 8 or 8.5. I was shocked at how small her shoes were, even more so at how narrow. I even took pictures of my feet next to her shoes because of how narrow the shoes were. She's now suffering from many, many foot problems due to stuffing her feet into too small shoes her whole life and even tho she gave in and has gotten bigger sizes, they're still way too small for her.
I didn't even realize having small feet was such a huge deal back in the day, till I learned about her foot issues.
Not bored, not at all. I appreciated the stealth sizing for the ski slopes. I’ll bet y’all saved a lot of women some painful injuries.
not bored and feel like I've learned from your family's stories. thank you ❤️
My husband comes from Taiwan. This is relevant only because in his family, in the last two generations, there is a dramatic increase in body size and height and shoe size. He is a good four inches taller than his father… and even more than his grandfather. The reason for this is very simple. Each generation has had much better nutrition! This larger trend is seen all around the developing world as better economy and food production is adopted. People get bigger when they aren’t malnourished. I have also attributed some of the size differences we see in Europe and America to this same reason. I wonder if you have considered nutrition and health in the sizing of shoes?
Yep! That's what makes the difference between say a 15th century European person and a modern one. But in the colonies/US there wasn't the same issue with malnutrition back in the 17th/18th c, so the change in size overall was less obvious! Basically, it's a thing but wouldn't have had the same large scale effect on shoes once we reach the point of sizes. There's even some evidence that shows the malnutrition issue was larger in the late 19th and 20th centuries due to the industrial revolution and class separation (this goes for many regions around the world).
@@NicoleRudolph and also due to the wars
Also hygiene: Drinking water, pasteurized milk, non-moldy grain, less fleas and bed bugs etc etc etc. An immune system running full throttle uses up much more energy. Children run around less and grow less, but maintain a slightly higher body temperature. You still see this in developing countries. For example, the average height of North Koreans is 10 cm under that of South Koreans, even though they belong to the same ethnic group.
@@NicoleRudolph So interesting! Thanks for expanding on that. Side note: My mother-in-law has her Taiwanese grandmother’s antique lotus feet shoes (the ones made for a bound foot which was still practiced in her day). It shows what happened when the fetish for small feet goes way too far. They are three inches long and look like beautiful doll shoes. But all I see is the pain the wearer must have experienced.
@@NicoleRudolph What about waves of immigration? My maternal grandfather came over from Scotland in 1896 and (in pictures, he died long before I was born) he was rather thin and frail looking, maybe 5'5"? His 6 children both sons were 6' and the shortest of the 4 girls was 5'5". My brother looks a lot like him, except he's 6'3".
One other aspect of bias - when I worked in a museum, we were very bias to saving the smaller version of a particular style. Why? STORAGE! If we could save 4 different styles of small or only 3 of the large - the small would win every time. My boss called it authorized hoarding.
Love this insight into professional hoarding/collecting. ;)
I have to go to high tourist areas to have access to shoes small enough. (Personal best finds are in Las Vegas) It’s rather surprising how few companies make nice, well constructed, comfortable shoes for women in sizes 5.5 (my military leather dress shoes) and 6. Many companies start at size 7.
I have to either to pounce immediately for that solo pair in my size or be left out.
@@aurorafina I find that issue with running shoes. I almost always go into the boys section for any athletic shoe.
Omg... Roflmao this makes soo much sense
@@aurorafina I have the opposite problem there are loads here size 3-5 but size 6 and above are really hard to find for some reason
I'm an old lady. My grandmothers were born in the late 1800's. They were both extremely concerned about having dainty feet. Both in old age developed plenty of foot problems from trying to cram their feet into shoes that were too small.
Wow, that’s awesome that you have relatives who lived back then! I’m a teenager, and looking at the shoes that I wear and comparing them to the shoes from that time is shocking to me. I truly love all things vintage!
Were they poorer?
My mom’s grandmother told her the same thing
@@Poodle_GunNo, that was the look they wanted to achieve. Wealthier people were able to have custom shoes made to fit them and look smaller. My grandmother tells me of her grandparents who were born around the 1860’s (in Mexico) and it’s similar.
My great grandparents were born then as well and I knew them and spent time with them, but they didn't talk about that and they didn't seem that concerned with their feet or fashion on general. They were very practical because of their depression experiences. Maybe it's dif between populations.
I have tried to explain the "survival bias" to a few people and they tell me I'm crazy. They can't just let the idea of "people were just smaller" go. It's similar to the idea that ladies were always tight lacing their corsets. It drives me up the wall.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
I know about the corsets but people were DEFINITELY smaller on average. Malnutrition was a big factor, as is the current growth hormone infused meat here in the US. Even anecdotally, I can think of lots of families where the children are taller than the parents, and the grandchildren are taller yet. But statistically it’s also easy to see that’s the case. The average height keeps going up and up, therefore feet are bigger too of course.
@@margaretqueenofscots9450 maybe slightly, but no.
@@margaretqueenofscots9450 When you make a claim like that, you need to site your source. Where are you getting your information? And it needs to be CREDIBLE not some pseudoscientist making scare tactic claims. I've seen a lot of those recently.
They Were Smaller “back then”& shorter. Both my mamaws were tiny.✌️
Regarding the smallest sizes being the only ones surviving to be shown in museums, it reminds me of an observation I made to a friend a few years ago when op-shopping and "vintage" were all the craze. I remember remarking how the 80's were making a comeback but for some reason it was all the uglier (i.e. less popular back then) colours and pieces that were coming back. I remember my friend positing that it was probably because the less popular stuff was the only stuff to survive being sent to an op-shop in the first place. All the good stuff from then would've been worn to death instead of ending up being unwanted and donated. So all the "vintage" fashion recreation that was going on was being based on those surviving pieces instead.
This is a great observation! Thank you for sharing!
I had this exact conversation with my Daughter.
That's kind of hilarious. Inagine the top your aunt bought you that you never wore because it was hideous coming into style years later because younger people have never seen the "it" items from your glory days.
It's the same with old books. If you go by the books that have survived a few hundred years, you'd think most people were reading collections of sermons and dictionaries and encyclopedias. But those are the books nobody read. The popular books were read to tatters. We also have a hard time knowing, for example, how English people practiced their Christian faith before the break with Rome. People had private prayer books that they used until they fell apart. Then came protestantism and you get all these pristine collections of sermons that people showed off in their houses but didn't read. Gives a very skewed view of religious life. Never trust a historian who 'proves' points based on museum collections.
This entirely explains the Wonder Woman 1984 movie and it's hideous style choices.
My grandfather used to say about my grandmother , who was born in 1911 .
" Zella wears a size 5 shoe but , a 6 feels so good she buys a 7."
He said this because my grandmother insisted she wore a 5 shoe . Yet , every shoe in her closet was a 7.
I do know having big feet was insulting to women back then
That's hilarious! Too, too cute!
In high school I worked at a shoe store and the men always wanted larger sizes and women wanted smaller.
And now!
I am in my 60s. My maternal aunts and mom had small feet...mostly size five...after a few kids...around size six. I think back then it was considered as dainty. They used to make fun of my size eights. I did have about four to five inches on them in height. So it made sense to me.
MY grandfather (born in 1915) was so vain about his shoe size he REFUSED to wear his actual size. After being miserable for a long time, I finally convinced him to go up one shoe size to a 9. He was 5'8" tall and robust - at one time he had a 50" waistline - but he was worried about his shoe size. 🙄
My grandma always wanted to have my feet binded since I was about 10 because she decided that my feet were “large enough” and if they got bigger I wouldn’t be “feminine”
Thankfully my mom who did go through that and therefore couldn’t feel a few of her toes protected me from that and let my feet naturally grow into my 10-11US/43-44EU size
10-11 US is a 40.5-41.5 EU...
Thank God your mother knew better then to repeat that mistake!
binding feet is straight up mutilation, how horrible((( i’m glad that you didn’t have to go thru that
Your mom rules! ❤️
Hasn’t foot binding been illegal for like a century?!!
I expected this to be as simple as "leather shrinks over the years when no one is wearing a shoe." Pleasantly surprised to learn it's so much more than that!
I will never forget the first time I saw George Washington’s uniform at the smithsonian museum in DC. It was so tiny, they said it shrank after all the years and from the conservation efforts to keep it in good condition. It was so shocking though, I stared for a good five minutes in awe.
My dad is 6’2 and after we took a trip to Mt. Vernon he swears that George Washington must’ve either had unusually small feet, inches were a different length back then, or that he also had to walk up and down the stairs sideways like my dad had to do
@@phoenixfritzinger9185 When I was on the USS Kidd I stared at the uniforms and I couldn't have worn the men's uniforms because they where so short. Like 5 ft tall. I'm 5'6'. Both my grandmothers where 5 ft at best. I was taller than them at thirteen.
While that may be true of washington.... people were indeed smaller. Military tape measures and weighs you. Marilyn monroe was ariana grandes exact height, her waist was smaller with larger bust and hips. That woman was tiny. The trend of weight gain and size gain can be seen in averages of military personnel
George Washington's recorded height is 6' 2" - he was pretty tall. I think most museum clothes look tiny because they aren't on a person - mannequins definitely don't wear clothes very naturally.
I remember having the same thought when I saw one of his waistcoats.
I wonder how many of the shoes that have survived were sales samples? Generally the seller would have sample of mass produced shoes to show the store's buyer and would have the smallest size to save as much space in their case. I remember back in the 80s Bldg 19 selling "sample shoes" and they were mostly sizes 4 & 5. They were very pretty but nothing I could wear.
Also, even today they still put the smallest pair into the windows because they "look better". A foot in proportion to the body looks best, anything much smaller looks weird in my eyes and reminds me of pig's trotters. Much larger and people will assume you are still growing 😁.
@Claudia
Agreed. But men seem to like small feet. All of my boyfriends and my husband commented with admiration on my small feet (size 6 US). Same for my sister, aunt, and mother who wear size 5 1/2. Foot binding was a thing for a reason.
@@myrtle1234 Depends on the man & the culture. You may have attracted men who like smaller feet because you have small feet.
Oh I miss the Building 19 shoe rack! Sometimes you could score a bargain. Then there was the time they sold prison shoes for $0.50…
@@myrtle1234 Feet binding was super specific to one area tho, not worldwide. That’s like saying there’s a reason for head or neck elongation. Very few humans do or care about those specifics unless culturally it means something to them.
“Sometimes you have to suffer pain to be beautiful,” my mother would say. She was one of the last of the steel magnolias, and she was all about the “steel” part. We almost all wore excruciating dress shoes to church, and the women I was in the choir with always took their shoes off. If they’d had to wear them to the store, they would make it a short trip.
"You've got to suffer to shine," was how my grandma put it.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
The sad part is that all the pain women put themselves through just helped convince men that women were vapid and of lower intelligence. All that effort, and men still spent all their time at the local brothels and bars.
@@cl5470 That’s exactly how we were portrayed in movies and tv back in the 50s & 60s. Smart women were actually viewed with suspicion, and seen as troublemakers. Only men could save the day. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a male-dominated, fairly misogynous family, but I always identified with the man, in movies & tv. Men actually got to do something. I was so excited when I saw Ripley defeat the alien, herself.
@@cl5470 Mens' opinions that they form independently are not the responsibility of the women they choose to infantilise, neglect, abvse, or ignore. That's just misogyny.
"You've got to suffer to shine" is what men back then tell women as justification for their behaviours, personally and structurally, and then what women tell their daughters and themselves when anyone asks them _why_ people have to treat women this way.
This was the era in which a lot of poor folks' daughters had to drop out of elementary school to get jobs and support their many siblings.
This was not the time in which _all_ women would've been given equal opportunities to gain the knowledge to understand the society we live in. They still aren't, but it's horrifying what society got away with then.
Women couldn't get a credit card in their own name and it was a pain for unmarried women to get one at all prior to the act passed in 1974 to stop banks from refusing that to them. The fact that people are still missing the point of why women have to/are compelled structurally to dress a certain way to access certain parts of society without backlash from both men and women, because women can be misogynistic to each other, too, because society pits them against each other - just proves the entire point of why we need to keep talking about this kind of dynamic.
I don't hear people talk about it often, but foot binding was a relatively common practice throughout the U.S. South and epically in the Appalachia through the 30s into the 50s. Perhaps earlier. As in many places, it was fashionable to have small feet. Parents would bind their children's feet with ribbon, wood, or cloth to shape them and keep them at a smaller size. My great grandmother has terrible problems with arthritis and foot mobility as a result of the practice.
I didn’t know that practice existed outside of east asia, you learn something every day!
I had no idea and I grew up near there. Wow. I totally believe you.
@@cjboyo i didn't know either, that's extremely depressing to think about- at least it doesn't seem like this particular practice is as damaging..? since it seems like they're just binding the foot, instead of breaking it in half and then binding it
I should have had that done. Wearing a woman’s 14 size shoe ain’t easy.
No where I have researched supports this claim.
It was a cultural practice in China from the 10th century untill 1949 .
I'm American and no one in my family ever did this ,nor did anyone I ever knew.
Bunk
I really and truly miss shoemakers. I was spoiled by my parents (although flat feet and weak ankles played a large issue) and I had shoes specially made for me up until I was in 8th grade. Those were the best shoes I have ever worn and probably ever will wear in my life.
There are people who still make shoes, expensive though, and take a bit of finding.
SAS Shoemaker in San Antonio
I think most people who need special accommodations for their feet today have a custom insole as opposed to the entire shoe being custom. I have custom insoles, and they make the difference between being in pain with every step and forgetting my feet exist.
I have very thin, narrow ankles and extremely wide and flat feet. Custom insoles have made it so that I could wear stylish shoes without agony. Yes including heels.
I had dance shoes made for me because I have very small feet and my instructor said I need to dance in real heels for Argentine tango. So look around! There are shoemakers, particularly if there is a strong dance community.
This so mirrors the discussion about women's waist and corsets. There is so many misconceptions about past fashion and sizing. Here is a question I ponder....So many women see a corseted figure and say "I never wear a corset, because it compresses ribs, etc." How many of these women squeeze their feet into pointy toed shoes, risking bunions? Hmmm?
Exactly, this is what I thought as well. It's all about illusion 👌
Yeah... high heels cause so much more damage to the foot and leg than normal wear of corsets ever did. Cognitive dissonance is very real.
So many surviving corsets probably belonged to rapidly growing preteens and teen girls
I don’t wear either on a regular basis. I’m a comfort girl 90% of the time. The other 10% is for rare occasions like date night or job interviews or vacations. Even then I try to remain comfortable. I tried a corset many years ago and didn’t care for it, and I have never liked heels. My mom and Grandma got bunions from them, and I swore that would never happen to me, so I stick with flats except for small heels on very rare occasions.
I think we still have that dissonance/pain around wearing pointe ballet shoes, destroys the foot. Ballet for women done like the men can look very elegant, and without all that horrible noisy clunking.
Pregnancy also changes a woman's shoe size and shape (they get wider) I went up a whole size after having my child. So maybe a lot of these beautiful tiny shoes are from women who got married, had kids and outgrew their shoes but they kept them as a memento.
I went up half a size with each child! 😂. Also, something funny, my mother was convinced (and thus tried to convince me by her purchases for me) that I was wearing the wrong size shoe in high school. She said that I should be wearing a larger length, but that my feet were narrow and that was why I wanted to wear smaller shoes 🤔😵💫🤔. So instead of 7 regular she would buy me size 8 narrow, to which I equated to me wearing clown shoes that were very narrow, and also extra long. 😂😜😂
Certain injuries of the lower limbs can also make your shoe size bigger.
Unfortunately, my feet didn’t grow after having a baby. I still wear a 4 to 41/2 and they are impossible to come by. Fortunately, clogs and some other styles from Spring Step shoes come in a size 5 and they run small, but they are not cheap. Otherwise I wear kid’s shoes. I got a screaming deal on a pair of Sponge Bob shoes.
@@lisabaltzer4190You're living my dream!🤣They have such fun styles for kids, I'd love to be able to fit them, alas they don't make many fun styles for my size 10's!
I hope this isn’t true, I wear a women’s 14 shoe and it’s the highest size they make. Sometimes I can’t even find that. If my feet grow anymore I’ll literally have to be barefoot
I just went down a shoe rabbit hole after seeing Marie Antoinette’s surviving shoes. They looked toddler sized but are actually around US women’s size 6. Your video was so informative and interesting! My favorite part was seeing that you actually RECREATED shoes and showed how the leather stretched. I had no idea!
I don’t understand how you manage to produce what is essentially a mini text book or thesis for each of these videos. The energy you put into research is simply astonishing. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
She really is something, isn’t she?
Love them!
While keeping it highly entertaining and light throughout!
"for sale: baby shoes, never worn" becomes slightly less sad after hearing about new-old stock.
Remember that trend a few years ago when people would by baby shoes and hang them up in their car doors? Perhaps there was something similar
Ngl i had so many baby clothes i never used cause man do they grow fast and my baby had bad reflux so we just gave up on keeping her clothed
There are also plenty of people who get gifted clothes for their baby that end up not fitting at all because the baby already outgrew them.
@@zamiaramirez1390 having a reflux baby in the winter suuuuucks, clothing is essential. You have no idea how many bibs we go through a day to try and keep her jumpers clean, and she still goes through multiple jumpers a day. Actually, having a refluxer in general sucks :(
my baby was born massive (more than 10 pounds) and there' a ton of newborn clothes we had to donate new. I hope people didn't get sad when they saw them.
I don't own vintage shoes but I see the same thing with my roller skates! Skates are stiff, some are even way stiffer than regular shoes, but they need to be fitted closely to your foot in order to transfer movement efficiently. It feels a bit counterintuitive at first but your toes have to touch the front (but not be squished) and the heel has to be very fitted so your foot stays in place. My skates aren't very heavily padded so they look smaller than my normal shoes.
Climbing shoes are similar, it can take a while to get used to wearing slightly tighter shoes!
I always enjoyed the thoroughly snug, but never tight, fit of my lace-up roller skates.
My last foray into skating was about ten years ago (my late 40s).
i have some vintage riedell 297s from i want to say the 1960s idk. this is definitely true my feet look so dainty in them
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
Ice skates are very similar! When I went to buy my first “real” pair of skates, the store employees told me to go a size or two down while wearing thin socks. Some brands have employees “bake” the skates to warm the leather so it fits more snugly around your foot. Funny thing about ice skating, it seems to attract women with big feet lol. I always had a hell of a time buying dress shoes and my feet were always bigger than my friends. Now that I skate, I’ve bought and sold old shoes and skates with friends cause everyone seems to have size 10 feet!
Also I sympathize with women that have size 11 feet or bigger. Finding a size 10 is hard enough and dress shoes are horrible when it comes to bigger sizing. I have male family members with size 14 feet and there’s very few brands that carry shoes that big
Great video! I learned a lot. I have been collecting vintage/antique shoes for about 10 years now. I remember my grandma teaching me the same thing about old clothes, that the reason why so many old clothes that remain today are so fancy, was because they weren’t worn very often. When I think about my own life, it makes perfect sense. Somewhere tucked away in a closet or a trunk in my mother’s house is a formal dress she bought me to wear for my 8th grade graduation back in 1990. I was 14 then, and still quite “twiggy”, and the dress was a size 4. I only wore it that one time. I am now in my 40s and every bit of a size 12, thanks to some big-bosom gene in my family that seems to start showing itself around middle age (lol) so there’s no way I’ll ever wear that dress from my youth ever again. Undoubtedly someone years from now will find it and ask “who the heck could’ve worn such a tiny thing?” Well, a 14-year-old me, that’s who.
As for shoes, I am a 9-9.5 wide, and have been since about the same time of that formal dress. I am 5’9” so that always seemed normal to me. My parents were hippies and I grew up in the country and was allowed to run around barefoot or in flip-flops much of the time. I remember being young and having other girls comment that my feet were so big. Which didn’t make sense to me because that was normal for me. I mentioned this once to my grandfather who was a Cherokee Indian. He told me “Big feet make a good foundation. Those girls with little feet are gonna fall over.” 🤣
Anyway loved your video, subscribed, keep up the good work!
My mother said "they put a better foundation under a church than an outhouse".
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
How odd! We are opposites! As a kid I was very overweight! Now at 51 I am at my slimmest weight of 111 pounds. A size 0 (XS). Fit into kids clothes (size 10-12). 24 inch waist. Its these corn allergy! Do carnivore or ketovore! You will lose weight fast and have muscles.
@@sarahb.6475 Are you a spambot?
@@sarahb.6475sounds like an ED tbh
I was raised by my great grand parents. Mamaw was born in 1918 and was always insistent that a perfect size for a woman to remain feminine looking was a 6. I ended up being 5'10" by age 12 and she refused to buy a show larger than an 8 for me. She basically bound my foot most my of my childhood. I have a lot of damage in the foot bones from it. To be clear its NOTHING like the poor women who had feet broken and bound in Asia, but my metatarsal bones are curved unnaturally from it. I have had foot problems my entire life and tons of pain. My bio mom found out what was happening when I was 12 or 13 and took me for a shoe fitting, which ended up being a size 10. Im 42 now and even after all the years of wearing shoes that fit, I still have issues. Those bones in my feet warped and will never be normal. But to Mamaw, small feet and a small frame were beauty standards and she genuinely thought I'd be too big to find a husband. And while that is far from the most important thing for a woman born in my generation, for her generation, being an old maid was a death sentence.
But my 6'4" tall husband loves me, big feet and all.
If your great grandmother was still alive I’d want you to tell her being big doesn’t keep you from getting a husband, I’m 5’10 size 11 shoe and I’ve had 3 husbands 😂
Omg she’d think i was a man then 🤣 I’m the same height and shoe size as you but I’m also a size 12 in jeans lol I’m also left handed. I’d be the devil
That's severe! I'm sorry that happened to you. It's tragic how beauty standards have literally warped women!!
This is an interesting comment - thank you for sharing it! I'm also sorry that you have issues now, but I respect how you specifically did not "blame" her for it, but it was simply a reflection of their standards.
I had proper shoes my whole life except for my vain period, trying to wear normal shoes (wide feet don’t fit in those even at the right size)
My bunions are so bad
My one foot is literally deformed and pain shoots in my toes as they’re pushed to the side from my big toe being bent to a side angle from the bunion
I have worn Birkenstocks since 1990 lol (also expensive Asics but they haven’t rly fit for a decade due to the increasing bunions)
Some things are just genetic too 🤷🏼♀️
As an antique store owner, I see this a lot. The best clothing we get tends to be small. Totally agree. It came down to the fact that these clothes weren’t able to be passed down, due to small size, so they didn’t wear out. Thanks for this video, it explains the myth very well.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Chapter 1
As a lady in a size 12, vanity sizing makes sense. My grandmother made me self conscious from the start, calling my feet "boats" 😭
Ughh I know the feeling I’m a 5’9 woman i wear a 10 or 11 depending on the Shoemake I never understood the reasoning behind teasing someone about shoe size like as if I could control that??💀
wtf "boats"
I'm a size 10, but my younger, very tall sister is a 11.5.
I also wear a size 12. Someone told me once it takes a bigger foundation to hold up a cathedral than it does an outhouse. I am glorious.
@@DruidessInara I love that!!!!!✨
Also, like corsets, our perception of vintage shoes may be coloured by Gone With The Wind: the book goes way out of its way to emphasize Scarlett's small feet with their tiny green morocco slippers, and Miss Pittypat's dainty feet crammed into shoes that are far too small for them.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
With regard to the vanity shoe sizes: I have run into this in recent decades. I used to work at a wilderness outfitter in the American Deep South, where many women are still pressured into archaic beliefs about women's shoe sizes -- i.e., one MUST have tiny feet! In particular, among those who go on ski vacations socially and not for the sport itself, our shop had to come up with a "vanity sizing" scale (two numeric sizes smaller than true shoe size), in order to sell ski boots to the fashionistas who normally crammed their feet into too-small dress shoes. We did this in order to prevent some women from insisting on too-small ski boots and then injuring themselves on the slopes. Being a woman, I had tried saying, "don't worry, everyone's feet look hug in these things," but that didn't work. The same scale was used for after-ski products and outdoor boots for size-conscious women who said they were merely "tagging along" on outdoor adventures. (Conversely, those women who were seriously interested in skiing, hiking and other outdoor activites almost never argued for a too-small boot.) Too-small outdoor activity boots can cause everything from blisters to much more serious injury. I hated being deceptive, and many years later it feels horribly condescending, but our objective was to prevent our customers from harming themselves.
You were only lying to keep them from hurting themselves. Therefore it is a noble effort. And the fact that people's vanity would get in the way of their own health and safety is just a product of human stupidity. You have nothing to feel sorry about! You were protecting their health more than they were willing to....
@@angelwhispers2060 Men feeling entitled to control women's bodies and autonomy is intensely disrespectful. Notice how he differentiates the real athletes as "not like the other girls" WTF MAN WTF everyone applauding him is the reason why we've gone back into the Dark Ages regarding abortion.
To the above poster, @angel whispers he's condescendingly selling to women only by assuming they are vain and stupid and need to be protected from their own vanity by the smart manly man who knows all. omfg
I didn't learn about the difference in sizing for outdoor/athletic shoes until recently. I want to go hiking with my sister, and had a specialist fit me for shoes. I usually wear a US6 or 6.5, 7 absolute max, so I was surprised when they gave me a 7.5. And they fit wonderfully! The specialist explained that my toes would get more room to spread out this way, which makes sense to me. I couldn't even argue because they feel great😆
Meanwhile, my round toed, comfortably high-enough heels are somehow too big for me at a 6.5, and I have to put pads in to keep my feet from sliding🙄 Didn't realize the size changes depending on the activity lol
This is silly. What about women with tiny feet interested in skiing? They order their real size 5-6 and are left with what? A true to order 4-5? We almost never order a size larger than our foot size and now if we go to you for help you would say they all fit snug? That would lead me to believe that I shouldn't size up. Lol I'm so confused
@@angelwhispers2060 not human stupidity but misogyny. The thought that women created the idea that smaller feet are more desirable immensely discredits how much misogyny affected and continues to affect women. As well as disguising it as vain for a women to care about her shoe size, like come on?? Misogynistic thinking lead you to believe it is vain, because it pushes the idea that women cannot form serious opinions or thoughts, therefore silencing them. But whatever
My mom said her mother was concerned about “being petite” so she only wore size 7.5, narrow shoes even if the particular pair of shoes would be more comfortable in size 8. She was 5’7 which was tall for her time. She later had constant foot pain that made her last years miserable.
I was a size 8 or 9 shoe at 11 (I’m kinda tall so it makes sense). My grandma was shocked and concerned. Thanks MawMaw for adding to my already anxious adolescence 🙄
I was a size 6 in 3rid grade but I’m 22 now
:( comforting vibes sent to you.
Oh I’m a girl that always buys shoes too small. It hurts my feet but I feel more confident about myself so it’s worth it
I'm 5'1½ and wear a size 8½ 9
@@Gaeisok it’s not gonna be worth it when you’re old and have constant foot pain
One key fact is the taller you are usually the larger your shoes. My grandmother was 5'2" tall. Before getting out of elementary school i could no longer squeeze into her shoes. A big part of that was i was 5'7" when i was 12 starting into middle school.for many years i did wear the largest shoes of any girl in my grade, but then i was also usually the tallest in my class. My mother who wore a size 11 andit wasnt a case of her size being sold out but most stores didnt carry women's shoes that large and she had to special order them (she was 6').
People were shorter in general so it would be expected for their feet to be smaller.
People were not really "just shorter back then". There are a few factors. We know more about nutrition, and are generally fed more nutritious food especially as children, so we are able to grow taller and maintain our bodies. On top of this, in the past, there were many periods where there simply wasn't enough food, and most people weren't paid enough to provide their families and themselves with a good amount of food. Malnourishment can affect your body, making you appear shorter, and malnourishment from a young age means you don't grow as tall.
Yes, people overall have been getting taller, but there are factors that go into it.
Children were dressed like adults, so it might be hard to know which age a shoe was made for. I also have to wonder if these special occasion shoes that survived were worn only a few times, and either outgrown, or the child/young person died (high infant/child mortality rates) and the shoes were preserved as a memory.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Chapter 1
My grandma said she used to cram her feet in shoes that were too small because she said that's what was fashionable. You wanted tiny feet. Now her poor feet and toes paid the price because her poor toes were overlapped and caused her a great deal of pain as she got older...but she said her shoes were beautiful lol
My grandmother did the same thing! She wore high heels that were too small for her. Her feet were absolutely destroyed.
Similar with my mum. She practically lived in pointy stiletto heel shoes from age 15 - they have to be a size too small in order to stay on. Her toes were mangled and she had back problems as a result. But from her point of view, she always looked smart and fashionable!
My grandma had a roommate in college who wore nothing but heels. Grandma, being the practical farm girl, wore normal shoes with maybe a slight heel. Grandma saw that same girl years later and her arches are basically destroyed and she can’t wear a flat shoe because her feel are messed up so badly. Grandma told me that choices I make now will effect me eventually so take care of your feet.
Claustrophobic feet just the thought gives me the hebe jebes *shudder *.
Closest I ever got was the wrong size too small reduced price running shoes. Yeah - they'll stretch you tell yourself. Doesn't always work - ow ow ow.
My grandma had triangular pointed toes from wearing the wrong shoes most of her life. Partly choice later as that was what she was used to, but growing up because that was what she had and just had to get on with it. Gran was tiny btw. 5 foot and a half inch tall. Size two U.K. feet. Her siblings were a bit bigger so she probably had their shoes.
This makes sense! I’m an intimidating 4’8” tall and wear between a 5-5.5US shoe and I’ve been *spoiled with the clearance shoe racks, my entire life!* I always assumed people were (on average) shorter than today…mostly because really old houses and furniture fit me perfectly! I can reach all the shelves in historic homes and I’m typically the only one in the group that never has to duck/crouch down. Lol❤️💖
Same! I’m 4’10 and wear a size 4.5 so I’ve got a bit of a mix of shoes only available online under “special size” or clearance shoes
A five foot zilch here ... Yes, until recently sale racks were my friend. But, with less small sizes being carried now, I am often left having to buy full price of risk the very few pairs that they have selling out.
@@alexandrasmith7682 yeah, I’m going to act like a proper boomer and blame the internet….🤣
Because stores used to make sure they had a variety of sizes on hand, trying to anticipate any customer’s needs…
But now, I’ve noticed that many stores just keep the most common sizes on hand and will only have a different/unusual size sent to the store if somebody specifically asks for it.
So the days of “bountiful clearance racks” might be gone. (Sniff sniff..🥺) lol
The other fun thing for the "Cinderellas" is being able to shop in the kids section...
Ha!! I am a diminutive 4’9” and wear a 4.5 and I too have to special order my shoes from overseas (I’m in the US) or shop in the childrens section for shoes that are far too juvenile for my current taste.
Reminds me very much of the phenomenon of "short" historical beds, often explained by tour guides as a consequence of people having small stature in the past. The beds often look shorter than they are, for various reasons.
For much of history, in Europe at least, people also DIDN'T sleep completely flat like we do now! Medieval and Renaissance beds, for example, were intended to be slept in in a slight sitting position ("Only effigies lay down"). Historical rope beds will MAKE you wake up like that as the ropes loosen over the course of a night. I'm not sure, however, when the trend toward laying flat-down came around.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Chapter 1
This is really interesting and I enjoyed the explanation of survival bias. It's a concept that I knew about with reference to items found in archaeology, but hadn't applied the idea to more recent historical artefacts.
Thank you!
My feet are size 3½. It has always been difficult to get the shoes I want in my size, so I often end up wearing size 4 shoes and boots.
I notice that there are often lots of size 3 shoes left in the sales (in shops that actually sell smaller than a 4) despite it seeming that they have fewer smaller shoes in stock.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
In the book "Cult of Chiffon" (tl;dr an Edwardian fashion critic REEEEEEEs into the void for 212 pages), the author Mrs. Eric Pritchard requests, no, BEGS, women of the "lesser sports" to try and remember to wear attractive shoes whenever possible. She insists one shouldn't wear boots while cycling but instead put on a pretty pair of "Louis XV" (a term she uses a lot). She warns and bemoans that women are not taking into account that shorter hems and less full skirts mean that your feet are showing and they MUST BE LOVELY or she will silently judge you!!! She also complains about people going straight from sports to Tea. This is, apparently, is not allowed and you should always pack your tea gown with you to change to or skip Tea entirely for the good of humanity.
Back to shoes, though, she seems to comment a lot on and off about shoes, and not liking what women are doing with shoes in England in 1902. There are references to thinking people are picking the wrong shoes and worry that shoes are looking too big. A lot of this grumbling/ranting seems closely connected with hems, and the suggestion that the more out of sight a shoe is, the more utilitarian it's allowed to be.
(If Mrs. Eric was here today, among casual street fashions and sneaker culture, I think she'd become a sneaker-factory arsonist with a very angry youtube podcast)
What I wouldn’t give to see her brought today!
If she saw sundress+converse combination, people would have to call ambulance
Until mid-twentieth century, changing clothes for meals (be it tea, dinner, breakfast or whatever) was a must in England, and it was an indication you weren't wealthy enough if you didn't.
As far as I can tell, it was the hardships of war what forced English society into "fuck it, I'll eat with whatever I have on".
My mother who grew up in the 1940s and 50s in Zagreb told me her tailor (there weren't many ready-made clothes in socialist Yugoslavia) permanently nagged her about her shoes which were mostly canvas sneakers. "You will ruin your feet with these", she claimed, and with that she meant the ability to squeeze herself into a heeled pump. "Look at my feet!" she would say and stretch out her old, gnarly, incredibly high-arched foot in a kind of stiletto. "Yesterday I went on a hike in these." My mother, who followed these suggestions as much as she could still suffers the incurable corns those evil pumps gave her.
@@LixiaWinter can you imagine the heart attack she'd have over any instance of combat boots and evening dresses!? We'd need to get the smelling salts asap!
As someone who has a modern 7.5 US Women's shoe and has worn plenty of extant shoes, it's always funny to me when people both think that feet were impossibly tiny back then, but also then assume from seeing me wearing the extant shoes that my own feet are impossibly tiny. Like, nope, I've got a very average size foot, and it was a fairly average foot back then too. One thing I do wish modern shoes had more of though was that "vertical space". Part of why I love extant shoes, besides for how flattering they are on the foot, is because my instep and my arch have decided to conspire to reach new heights (mostly the issue is the instep) and the vertical build of older shoes lends itself very nicely to me not feeling like the bones on the top of my foot are being cut into. This is sometimes an issue I suffer with newer shoes until either I break in said new shoe, or come to terms that the style is just not for me.
We don't break in a shoe, it breaks in our foot. Ouch
Yes modern pumps & ballet flats & mary janes sometimes cut into the top of my foot terribly because where that opening hits is far enough past my toes that it's on the top of my foot at it's widest point but also at a pretty tall (thick) part, & especially with anything heeled, the angle makes it cut in even worse. The oldest vintage shoes I have are maybe 1970s, square heel pumps, and the cut of that area is so different, it makes my feet look narrower & doesn't dig in like similar modern styles. If I'm not wearing dress shoes, I mostly wear Converse because I really like that feeling of a shoe that hugs & flexes & I can tighten them enough for a good fit on my ankle. I'm very curvy in general & that includes my legs, but I don't have thick ankles so most modern boots don't fit me tight enough at the ankles & I can shove my entire hand in even if they have laces. Sometimes I have to pad out that area by wearing long socks & folding them down a few times. I tried some Doc Marten mid calf boots last year & the tongue is sewn so far up the sides & such a thick stiff material that I couldn't lace that area in much so I ended up having to return them because I honestly could have stuck a soda can in next to my ankle & laced them comfortably. I have some knee high lace up boots & they're flexible enough I can lace them tight but even having absolutely no gap in the lacing there it's still too loose & if I don't pad it out it buckles & wrinkles there which is tough on the shoes & can be uncomfortable & pinch. Legs aren't straight tubes, they have shape. I've been drooling over the American Duchess button boots because I can get the buttons moved for a perfect fit.
to me a size 7 seems tiny .. but thats because I wore a modern womans size 7 in middle school ... a women's size 10 my freshman year and by the time I graduated and stopped growing was a size 11.
@@ah5721 Ya your feet are giant :D
I also prefer shoes with much more vertical height. I wear a size 7.5-8 so I am able to find shoes that fit me easily but shoes that are comfortable???? I need thick insoles on top of the built in insoles to achieve any sort of comfort and I find myself sizing up so I can cram more padding in there lol!
I’ve always been short and small (5’1, and my clothes are usually a US size 5-6) but my feet have always been large and wide. My mother used to call them “Horse hooves” since I’m a 9-9.5. I think it’s better for balance and has helped me with my stance in boxing.
Yep. I’m 5’2…..I’m top heavy, small waisted, wide hips, and a tiny foot. For sizes (32E, small is loose on my stomach, and a 9 in jeans but I have that stupid gap around my stomach, 2.5 in childrens for shoes) I would like more average sizes….at least a bigger foot like you. Balance is not my friend.
@@leighhollis7909 My waist is about 26”, but I go up to 28 since most things are even, I’m more bottom heavy myself lol. Don’t feel bad, I wish my feet were a bit smaller since it’s hard to find nice shoes that fit. (made spelling error so I edited)
I’m 5’3 100lbs size 0, or teen size 12-16 depending on the brand, ( a cousin is age 11 that wears the same size clothing I do) I have size 9 feet. People say I’m all feet lol
@@SparkyOne549 You’ve got me beat for smallness, as long as you feel healthy and confident that’s what matters. Large feet can be very helpful depending on your goals.
@@SparkyOne549 i'm the same height as you but my shoe size is 5.5 lol
OMG. The shoes you made are SO beautiful! It really warms the cockles of my heart to see a "modern" person making shoes by hand that are obviously so beautifully crafted! The details are exquisite! And I love that designs of the 18th and 19th century can still look on point and fabulous today :)
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
I find it really interesting that they designed shoes to make the foot look smaller. Makes me think they should put wooden forms inside shoes in museums. It also make sense that with better nutrition, modern people are taller and shoe sizes reflect that. I also never thought about things surviving because they weren't used as much. It makes me wonder about a lot of things we assume because of what has survived from past to present.
Thanks for a great video!
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
Shout out to all the big footed women out there being so athletic and healthy
Size 11 over here 😄✌️
Ha! My big ol feet salute you!
Size 9 here!
I am not healthy or athletic but at least i am slightly tall
@Clouds I have rolled my ankles more times than I can count
as a kid I actually still got occasionally very thin true leather shoes with a leather sole.. and I ADORED THEM. I get blisters soooooo easily that simply getting shoes that don't hurt my feet is soooo rare these days :(
I finally discovered Bandaids for my heels and other areas, no blisters.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
Fascinating!!!! I was born in 1961 and I remember going to the small town shoe store and having the salesman measure my feet…they evidently had both styles of sticks on the store because I remember them adding two sizes sometimes and sometimes not (this was probably 1965/1966). I hadn’t thought about that until I watched your video. Thanks for the historical lesson! I will be watching more
Gather around for History is more nuanced and complicated time with Nicole!
As someone with small feet, high arch narrow heel, I’ve always found vintage shoes to fit me muuuch better. The part about how the leather was different and could hug the foot more makes so much sense.
So true! My feet are similar to yours, and vintage slingbacks have always been my friend.
Same! My sister wears a US size 5. I wear a US size 6. I’m 47 and my shoe size has yet to change! My grandfather was a podiatrist and we wore custom made shoes as soon as we started walking. As of today, I continue to only wear leather soled shoes. 👠👠👠
Tiny feet club!!
Yes, I wear a 4 1/2. Think my feet stopped growing in 3 rd grade. Love you small feet 👍🤣😂
Yes, my mother had small feet, US 4.5, and another slightly older friend wears a size 5. I wear a 7 and my feet look huge compared to hers.
I really love how excited she is about these shoes. It's endearing! And you know you're getting good information from someone who is so passionate about a subject :)
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
Always experienced anxiety when i was with my friend, who always told me about my “big feet” even though i have 38 1/2 size, which is average in my country. Asking my grandmas about great-grandmas’ feet size, height, body proportions was a nice idea. I accepted my long, narrow feet, because why fight genetics? All the women in my family had this kind of feet, and i think it’s beautiful :)
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
Size 38 is a perfectly fine size! I have 38 and most women here (the Netherlands) have this size. 39 is also really common.
Excellent video. As someone in the eyewear field, I can say that on the whole most eyewear WAS in fact, significantly smaller in the 19th and 20th century. The reason for this is, when you don't have plastics that allow for higher indicies of refraction, the easiest way to make thinner lenses is to reduce the effective diameter of that lens and center it as completely as possible over the eye. You can see a clear correlation that as lens technology and monomers/polymers become available, frames scale up significantly over time. Many historical photographs/daguerreotypes also bear out the evidence of tiny glasses on large faces. While large frames were indeed commercially available, the preference for the optician was always to choose that which was most well-centered over the eye (large pupil distances are uncommon even today, so the most common eyewear was small to correlate with average pupil distance). This is also why so much eyewear from the time has temples that seem so "splayed out," because they were simply bent to fit outwards and curve around the head.
This explains so much about why my feet look so much smaller in the vintage-style handmade shoes I bought from a tiny shop in Madrid than they do in any of my mass produced shoes. They're the most expensive shoes I've ever purchased, but the fit is incredible.
Where exactly in Madrid is this shop. Avid shoelover here.
I have no idea why RUclips recommended your channel, but I find it oddly enchanting. For one thing, you have such a classical look - your makeup and hair style, your clothes... Very pretty and very jazz era socialite, in the best sense. And your fascination for your subject is maybe the most enthralling aspect of this video. Yes - and the decor in the background. If I had the wherewithal, I think I would dress and decorate in almost the exact same way. Except my whole house may end up looking like a mash-up of a 1920s nursery and a 1930s night club.
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Chapter 1
Girl, please please publish a book on this! Include some photos too! This is SO FASCINATING
I have a memory of that type of 1920s' shoe stick you showed being used on me as a wee tiny child in a shoe-shop in the Highlands of Scotland in the early 1980s'. It had that very distinctive pre-WW2 air about it (as did the shop itself). There was also a board that you plonked your foot on and it had a pair of sort of sliding brass rulers on it that they could measure width and length at the same time, it was very useful and practical and all got swept away once the chain stores came marching into the Highlands a few years later.
Those were both in use at the Hush Puppies chain store in at least the California Bay Area in the 1970s and 1980s, too. I remember hating them because they felt funny on my feet. 😂
Yess. Even I was measured with that around maybe late 1990's when I got my first pair of "formal" shoes. Which I loved and lasted for years
@@pau3may in the summer of ‘99 I fitted Clarke’s shoes to the many school children with a ruler and tape contraption
Yes in 1960's and 70's that is what all shoe stores used
Had my feet measured this way all the way through my childhood in West Wales. 😀
This explains why my grandmother used to tease me about my “big” feet. I know I’m an average size because I could share shoes with my friends. It also happens that I was also 3 inches taller than my grandma, but I’m still categorically a short person. Grandma also happened to prefer sandals and slip-on shoes that allowed her feet to spread out. So, now I know that Grandma was just trying to gaslight me. She totally failed, btw. I didn’t care how big or small my feet were. I just think it’s funny now that I look back on it.
I remember being kind of mortified when as a teen my feet passed my mother’s in size (and shoe size.)
Imagine being concerned with the size of your ganchikds feet. There are more important things to worry about. In a way, I'm lucky all my grandparents had passed before I was born. But on the other side, I know for sure my maternal grandmother would not have cared about my feet. I'm 5'7. And 1 of 4. And I am the shortest. In my fam of giants, nobody cares what size of feet anybody got. XD
I feel like it’s a very 20th century thing to care about a woman’s foot size. My grandmother cared, my mom did a little, and then my aunt (who dgaf) said “well if I had smaller feet I’d fall forward onto my face.” And then I decided I didn’t want to carry on this weird, ancient idea that a woman’s foot size would matter. Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people and I am saying no to it. Now I feel bad for my grandma and how shitty her world must have been that this is what she cared about.
💯 I love this whole thread. My daughter's grandma on her dad's side (a petite little woman who thinks her small size makes her better than us) started making snide comments about the large size of my daughter's feet when she was only a baby! She also was concerned that the baby was fat. 😶She was a BABY!! My mother, a larger woman, kept insecurely commenting on how tall and my daughter has grown to be, but saying at least she's thin. Neither of these women would stop with these constant comments, assessing my daughter's shape and size. This is one reason why we never visit them, if I can help it. Their constant toxic judgments are not welcome. My daughter is currently 9 years old and she just informed me that she has the biggest shoe size in her class. I said "Cool!" (She's also the tallest in her class, so that makes sense. But even if she was disproportionate, so what? Why make kids feel insecure and self concious?)
Glad my family wasn't involved in this culture. I know my former co-workers made fun of me for my "duck-feet" but I didn't care. My job involved a lot of walking so I was going to get boots that fit me and are comfortable. Didn't know that it was a culture thing.
I absolutely love how this video shows practical application is important to really understand a subject being studied.
Thank you for making this video! I volunteer at a late Victorian heritage house and was told from day one that the shoes were tiny because small dainty feet were fashionable, but no one ever explained to me how they managed to get their feet into the tiny shoes. Now I know and can explain it all better.
It just goes up there with the questions about the low furniture, small waists, short beds, and low door frames; no people were not THAT much smaller back then. These things, which all occurred for separate reasons, just make it look like they were. Correlation does not equal causation.
My dad as a kid in the 50’s remembers his mom dragging him to the shoe store where you’d try a shoe on and to check the fit, put shoed foot an x-ray box that would light up (☢️). The sales clerk could then look thru a viewer to see the skeletal foot and where the toes ended inside the shoe, to be sure there was “growing room”. I guess this was for wiggly kids whose mom’s wouldn’t trust the kid to say whether the shoe fit or not!
It made for a much better fit. However, those X-ray machines weren't around long because they figured out that the shoe salesmen were coming down with cancer way too frequently. I loved seeing my own bones moving!
I remember this !
The most uncomfortable pair of shoes I had in my entire childhood were the ones bought after using one of those machines!
@@joybranham8250 So too did customers develop cancer.
@@sharimccormick1352 No, but the operators probably did.
My great grandmother was exceptionally tiny, 4'10" and a shoe size 3. As an 8 year old child I could wear her robes & sweaters and the older vintage shoes in her closet.
Most of her size 3 shoes she stopped wearing after pregnancy, because her feet grew due to body changes. Then after she got older, arthritis caused swelling and she wore a 5 later in life. It was like a whole timeline of shoes.
Yes pregnancy and age .... my feet were a size 6 and now a 7.5 or 8. And it is not the number that changed, the old shoes were smaller and I couldn't get my feet into them!
I wish more women talked about feet changing in pregnancy. I invested in shoes I thought would last a lifetime when I became an adult and quit growing only to need all new shoes during my first pregnancy. My feet grew an entire size and never went back to their previous size. I knew I wanted kids and would have waited to buy nice shoes had I known.
@@krystlepoulin6382 there are a lot of changes during pregnancy that are ignored. One of my friends lost eye sight with every pregnancy. I found I lost my fine motor control for over a year. I had to learn to draw again, the pencil just wouldn't go where I expected it to go. Like I was working with mittens on. I also started to snore badly during my last pregnancy and eventually ended up with obstructive sleep apnea.
Pregnancy is a whole body experience that leaves not only stretch marks and droopy figure but all sorts of changes including having that baby's DNA floating around in your body.
@@lenabreijer1311 My allergies totally shifted after pregnancy. Before my son was born I was allergic to chocolate, carrots and snow mold. After I developed many more allergies, the most severe to strawberries and kiwis, but could now eat chocolate and carrots. Only my allergy to snow mold remained.
Came here to mention small shoes could be from younger women who then had children. Malnutrition would mean shorter women and smaller shoes also. My grandmother was a size 5 and head shorter.
As a teen and young woman, I had a huge appetite for great shoes, but a meager budget for same. So, when Yves St. Laurent or Maude Frizon were on sale, but not in my exact size, I bought 1/2 sizes up or down. Slightly squished toes or a little cotton toe filler accomplished the job. Decades later, while now able to afford any shoe, I stick with Skechers, not a fall from grace, but a need for comfort and utility. (My favorite pair of Frizons still live high up in my closet!) ❤
Thank you for making videos like this - they are so informative and educational, but also so interesting and enjoyable to watch
As someone with small, very wide feet (duck shaped!), this is why I like historic shoes. Makes me look like my foot is long and narrow but without actually killing my feet. It is grand. Plus, bonus on the softer leather as I am prone to blisters from air. :)
OMG - I can't believe someone uses the same term for their feet as I do. Duck 🦆feet here too - Wide at the front and narrow at the back and short in comparison to my height 5'4". I can wear a children's 3, 3 1/2, 4 but style usually ickky. Ladies 5 wide width too narrow, so I usually end up buying a 6 regular but my heel pops out, the most comfortable is a 5 1/2 wide - very difficult to find. ...and because I also have a high arch also reduces selection.
I have duck feet too, as did my mama. But my mother wore size seven and I'm a size 8 to 8.5 US. We at least had the option of going up or down in size, but more often shoes were painful. Heel slippage always a problem for me too. Made wearing dress shoes next to impossible unless they were Mary-Jane style.
I'd love to try a pair of those mid-1860s boots with the soft leather. Looks like heaven!
@@carolyngrayston6889 Duck feet unite! I like to think it gives me a swimming advantage. I am 'technically' a size 6 but will need a 7 or 7.5 or 8 depending on shoe. My heel will never stay in any shoe ever. I flat out refuse to wear sandals because they are always too tight on the toe and will come right off for my heel. Blister nightmare!
Still have the same issues with historical shoes, but they are less intense, plus making my foot look not like a person flailing in a boat.
@@celticsanster Oh gosh, staying in heels is such a challenge! One that I no longer bother with. Much like sandals and their impossibility. I think my feet were designed to be bare.
Totally get it, I plugged my width and length into a shoe size app exactly as they told me to do it and got an error. I have a size 4 with a width of ee. I always gat pink and blingy when I look for my size instead of sedate classic shoes
This is fascinating. I had a temp job as a student in a Clarks shoe shop surveying children’s shoe sizes. The company wanted to find out what sizes the children of different ages were wearing. In the UK, you pay tax on adults’ shoes but not children’s shoes. They had to work out if the sizes that weren’t taxed were big enough for modern children.
Oh yes, I fell fowl of this as my feet outgrew children's sizes while my sister can still wear children's shoes.
The joys of being a uk size 6. I, a 33 year old mother of two, bought myself a pair of slippers from the "boys" section which make it look like I have dinosaur feet and I love them.
I'm a grown-up.
@@catherinemalcolm8125 me too and I’m 39, I wear a size 5 1/2 or size 6 on a good day🙃🙂
God shoe shopping was I nightmare for me as a kid I grew out of kids shoes by the age of 8. I was so upset I couldn’t get the same shoes as my friends. Also had very narrow feet which just added to the trouble
@@kateg1355 I hated shoe shopping as a kid because the styles i like were not made in my size or too narrow. I am a wide 7.5 uk as an adult but i was wearing size 6 at 12.
You are fantastic! I’m seriously celebrating you and so happy to find your channel cant wait to watch more. Thank you for sharing all this amazing research! 🙏🏻👏🏼💕
I have always loved shoes, and I found this absolutely fascinating. Explains so much that I was always curious about!
“In shoemaking, we measure in barleycorns” sounds like sh*tposting. I was waiting for a punchline 😂
There's nothing stopping us from making it a sh*tpost out in the unsuspecting wild lol
I measure the foot pain caused by shoes in corns and blisters.
I always remember a part near the beginning of Little Princess:
'"She has silk stockings on!" whispered Jessie, bending over her geography also. "And what little feet! I never saw such little feet."
"Oh," sniffed Lavinia, spitefully, "that is the way her slippers are made. My mamma says that even big feet can be made to look small if you have a clever shoemaker."'
So obviously this was the thing that was commonly known at the time.
This is very informative and, in a way, comforting. My grandmother, born in 1889, wore a size 2 as a young woman, but late in life, wore a size 4. My mother, born in 1918, wore a size 8 shoe as a young woman, and wound up wearing a size 10 AA with a AAAA heel (I defy anyone to find any shoes in that size). I was born in 1956 and got to my adult shoe size of 7-1/2 at the age of 9 (I reached my full adult height of 5'2" at 11). I felt like a big-footed klutz, until I was in my late 20s, and discovered that just about everyone else was wearing my shoe size. Fast forward 20 more years, and I notice that everyone is buying 9s and 10s, and I now have the 7-1/2s pretty much to myself. Thanks so much for this video!
I really enjoyed this video and your passion for the subject! Thank you for presenting well-researched alternatives to the (sometimes true, but certainly not always) malnourishment and beauty-is-pain narratives. The concept of survival bias is quite enlightening.
Man, it’s crazy how truly timeless Oxfords are!
They look just as cute and stylish today as they looked way back in history.
This is so interesting to think about from a modern perspective, because if a museum in the future were to get hold of my shoes they would probably only get my formal heels, they wouldn't be able to get my converse or black flats that I wear every day as I wear through them. My "nicer" shoes would make it, while my everyday shoes would not, and I wonder if that would change their ideas about what work I did or what I did in my free time.
Also interesting to think about how nowadays there's not really a concrete way of measurement in most shops (unless it's a shoe shop). In some shops I'll be a size 6 in others I can go all the way up to a size 8.5, and in others I can't even wear their largest shoe because it still won't fit me! So no wonder it feels like people's feet are getting bigger, but it's probably more to do with shops claiming to have a way of universally measuring all feet, when in reality it's based on their own conjecture and personal form of measurement.
I was born in 1982, my mother in 1958 and her two sisters in the early 60’s. My mother has the biggest feet , size 7 ,and my aunts have size 6. My feet grew to a size 9 by grade nine,I grew to be 5”7, (I felt like a Bigfoot monster,lol) but now whenever I go shoe shopping , my size is almost always sold out. Size 9 in North America is apparently the new average size.
Just had this video on my suggested, and the second I clicked I was instantly taken in by the warm, intelligent, soft personality. I am new but I could listen to you talk about paint drying.
I wish I had you and Abby as my history teachers. My dad was the one to install a love of history in me and he did it by telling me stories of the day to day just like you two do. Just rattling dates and events at me doesn't work. The enthusiasm you show for real life then comes through beautifully. (Also Bailey is ADORABLE)
My dad does this. And he was a history teacher. He did it in class as well.
You should check out the channel extra credits history. It's great!
@@rosemali3022 I agree, the channel is fascinating.
@@elainejohnson796 those darn autocorrects!
Abby? Who is that?
I'll be honest, when I look at the shoes in a museum, I always picture some rich mum or woman hording the shoes that marked sentimental moments in their lives. Oh, it's my baby's first shoes or the shoes I was wearing when Jim proposed to me. I don't picture a poor person with a large family donating what would make useful hand-me-downs for their own kids as well as the cousins.
Yes. This was my thought pattern, EXACTLY.
You are 100% correct!
This is my first time watching a video of yours and I want to thank you for your research on this special part of history. I can tell it's a topic you are passionate about.
My mother truly had tiny feet compared to me. She wore a size 5 shoe, and she didn't cram her feet in shoes too small, compared to my size 9 feet. She always made sure there was a thumbs width between the toes and the tip of the shoe.
The part about optical illusions makes tons of sense, and matches with my experience as well. I have several pairs of “walking shoes” (not oxfords) which are wide at the base of the toes and quite bulbous, and they look big. My grandmother would have called them clodhoppers. I also have several different pairs of pointy ballet flats, which generally look smaller, and one magical pair of ballet flats that are pointed but wider at the base of the toes, so the point is shorter. They are very dainty looking, for flat shoes. Finally, I have some wrap shoes that look positively tiny, because they are so flexible, the soles are set in from the uppers, and the toe tends to curve upward. When I’m walking they spread to fit, but if I am sitting or standing still, they pull back in. All are comparably comfortable, just suitable for very different situations.
10:55 This entire section explains so much. When I was little in the 70's I remember my grandmother taking me shoe shopping and she was so frustrated and confused. She got into an argument with the shoe salesman (yes, we still had those back then) and insisted that they go up two sizes after I was measured. When he tried to explain that this isn't how it was done she was SO offended. "These will barely fit her feet! And she'll have NO room to grow! In just a couple of months these will be too painful for her to wear!" We triumphantly marched out with a pair that were like boats on my feet. When the problem became obvious she stuffed paper towels into the toes. My mother quietly made the shoes go away. They wouldn't have fit me for a couple of years as things stood.
I'm trying to understand how she couldn't know after all that time. The only way I could see her staying in the dark for so long is that she'd get fit, the salesman would have her try on a pair, and she'd be satisfied without ever looking at the size for herself.
I don't understand why YOU don't understand what your grandma did.
If you had to go with your grandma an she mentioned you were growing you were a child. She was probably from the generation that didn't have a lot of money so she didn't want to pay for several pairs of shoes as you outgrew them.
I went through this myself with parents and grandparents. We went clothing/shoe shopping for me every three years.
I had giant shoes with old socks stuffed into the toes and super long sleeves and pant legs that got hemmed and released as I grew. Then when I STOPPED growing I got shoes and clothes that ACTUALLY fit.
@@sometimessnarky1642 yeah, this was a thing. Second hand clothes too. I was a skinny kid, and I had to wear my sister's old clothes, and I looked like a clown. Life was different back then.
@@sometimessnarky1642 yea - there's a definite cultural difference between a big family with lots of kids 40 years ago to a family with one or two kids now - back then, with shoes much more expensive + a larger number of kids to be clothed + shod, hand me downs + room to grow was ESSENTIAL, you wouldn't buy anything that fit, you'd buy something a few sizes too big for the oldest kid, and then they'd grow into it, grow out of it, and it would get handed down, repaired occasionally, and eventually retired.
Nowadays, handmedowns are less common due to affordability, and families are smaller, so theres less need to make 1 pair of shoes or 1 piece of clothing last for 4-5 kids or multiple years - less kids means they can afford more for the kids they've actually got.
I grew up as the youngest of 5, and I mostly got handmedowns from the 2 right above me, as the other 2 were half-siblings + much older. I got jumpers + jeans + shirts + pjs, not so much shoes, as they tended to get REALLY trashed, but basically everything else - bags, books, towels, bedsheets, bed frames, etc. if it was in decent shape and the right size, it was mine. I got plenty of my own stuff too, but handmedowns were extremely common in my household, to the point where I'd sit at Christmas/birthdays and be excited when my older siblings got cool clothing, because I knew it was be mine eventually 😅 but my only child or 2-child household friends were often really confused by the whole thing, often asking why I would take/wear stuff from someone else when I could just have my own lol
@@sometimessnarky1642 No. Watch the timestamps part of the video. It wasn't about that. They literally changed the method in the late 50s for measuring shoes. When grandma learned how to buy shoes, they would measure the foot (foot size) and add 2 (shoe size). Then they changed it so that the tool that measured your feet would show the *shoe size* instead of the *foot size*-- grandma didn't realize that they had changed the numbers on the measuring tool.
@@sometimessnarky1642 Neither of my grandmother's would ever agree to hand-me-down shoes or shoes that didn't fit properly. Hand-me-down clothes, furniture, toys etc... yes! But my mother's mother and my father's mother both took me shoe shopping for back to school as a kid. They would have me and my 2 sisters try our shoes on and have us walk around and check and double check that they fit us properly.
They were scared of damaging our feet resulting in damaging how we walk and our backs when we grew up. They both teens in the 30's. The one area you COULDN'T be cheap with kids was with their shoes. I always had brand new, beautiful, properly fitting shoes at the start of the school year. I don't know where you grew up but in the UK, my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents always had nice shoes. And so do my kids.
Not to argue with Nicola at all, I'd just like to add an interesting (and surprising; at least to me) fact that I discovered.
A few years ago, I lost over 80 lbs. It was mostly a good thing, as I was overweight, but I was also very sick. One of the biggest surprises of this weight loss was the fact that I also went DOWN a size in my shoes. The first time I bought new shoes after losing the weight I went from a size 7W to a size 6. I did not think feet actually held fat. I also, BTW, noticed my hats were too big for me, too. So. When I was a teenager I typically wore a size 5. I am only 5'-3". In fact, when I was teen I was also 5'-4" but shrank some now that I'm older (62). As I got older and had children I did go from a size 5 to a 5.5, then 6 and so on, especially after having children. Now I am 10 pounds less than I have ever been as an adult.
I was just very surprised to discover you can lose weight in your feet. And I thought you might appreciate that.
When I lost weight I stayed the same foot size but went from a wide to a medium.
When I lost some weight recently I had to get all new clothes. I was also surprised that all my shoes were too big. My watches and rings as well. I can now fit my original wedding ring and all my other rings will just fall off my fingers if I straighten my fingers and point my fingers towards the ground. The clothes I expected to need new or have to take to get tailored, the shoes and jewelry I did not!
@@StrokeNTheFire I knew hands could get thinner, just not feet and heads. I guess the body will store fat where ever it can. LOL!
Thanks for all your hard work and research, thank you for imparting knowledge that seems to have almost been lost to time. Looking forward to your next video! ❤
I can see window shoes surviving through history as well to also trick the masses into thinking women had smaller shoes back then too. My great grandmother and grandma both had super tiny feet so they mainly shopped at a window shoe store back in California that sold window shoes discarded by shoe stores. Window shoes are just displayed shoes so they weren't really ment to be worn or sold.
I used to wear size 4-41/2 shoe when I was 15 yo. It was hard to find high heels in those sizes but I got what they called “sample shoes” that were used for window display because shoes look better in small sizes.
Finally ended up a size 6.
You can get really nice purses at a steep discount that way too! ;)
You are a wizard! I work in a museum and we have such a huge variety of very narrow shoes with tiny soles, but I had never considered they spread when worn, bc our shoes don’t do that today. Thank you so much for your research!
The “people were much smaller back then” idea is one I’ve had to talk about in almost every museum I’ve worked in, but never more than when I worked at a shoe museum. We talked a lot about how the small sized were the sizes that survived just like you mentioned, but I had never heard about the way the sizes actually worked, that was really interesting. And I hadn’t given much thought either to the fact that we’re always showing them on museum mounts and not with a weighty actual foot inside and how that would change the shape of the shoe while in use. This was super informative and interesting, so thanks!
Thank you so much for doing this video. You've explained incredibly well how the shoe size discrepancy from historically surviving shoes vs. modern day has become the myth of tiny feet. A most interesting watch which makes me think of how our much softer leather dance shoes compare to the softer leathers used in your examples of historic shoes and how much smaller my feet look in ballet and jazz shoes etc where the shoes soft supple leather stretches with movement, allowing a snug fit and flexibility that modern outdoor shoes do not have. It's easy to see why in this comparator also, historic examples don't survive when they routinely needed to replace their shoes so incredibly frequently. Our modern dance shoes - which are made with the thinner stretchier leather and will undergo a significant amount of strain, wear and tear (read also abuse) - would be unlikely to survive the next 200 years in the way that today's shoes made with synthetic materials or much thicker stiffer leather may do.
When you were talking about thinner shoes that flex around the foot looking really tiny, I couldn't help comparing my Sockwas (a very thin minimalist shoe) with my current tennis shoes. They look like completely different sizes (even though they are the same size) because like the historic shoes you mentioned, the Sockwas don't require the air space for comfort
I used to professionally sell women's shoes at a high end department store; there was an entire academy of training beforehand. NEVER EVEN SO MUCH AS A HINT OF THIS INFORMATION.
It is absolutely incredible that you make your own antique shoes!! I admire that so much!!!
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Chapter 1
This is my first video of yours. Definitely subscribing! So knowledgeable about the topic, I love it!
That issue with width and height in modern shoes is why my daughter who has really tiny feet wears a size 6 or 6.5 and stuffs the toes. She has wide feet with high arches so the size 5 US she needs won't fit.
I have the same problem. If I can find an extra wide shoe, I can wear between a 6-6.5 US. But for normal width shoes I have to wear between a 7.5-8.5 because I run out of room for my toes in anything smaller but my heel is just floating around. And forget boots that go over my high arches and fit my wide ankles and calves.
Me too…I can be a 6 or 6.5 if the height is generous enough, but I’ve gone up to a 7+ to get the instep room…but yeah, I then have to line the heels to keep them from slipping.
Here I thought 6 - 6.5 is pretty average 🤔. I didn't know the actual average is 8.5 - 9 (in America anyway).
My mom has a wide foot too :)
She goes to shoe shops to order shoes to have em shipped kn with the brands wide shoe. Large chain stores we’ve had no luck in.
Wow, I never realized how soft and flexible those older shoes were! Like foot gloves!
What an incredibly fascinating video!!! Thank you so much for all your research. Just subscribed and I can’t wait to binge-watch your whole channel 🥳
I would love to listen to your wisdom for hours. Is there a way to lower and/or getting the sound steadier? Now it sounds like you are about to cry. I know i am harch. Thats because i want you to succeed. We need more like you. You are a true gem. 🌟
Question about the newspaper stories: do any of your clips show the reporter's byline? In 1911, the overwhelming majority of newsrooms were populated almost exclusively by men. Having worked in such a newsroom -- in a metro area generally perceived as 75 years behind the rest of the state -- I can say with confidence no male reporter ever bothered to ask a women how pointed shoes affected her shoe size.
I'm not sure I can comment on pointed shoes, but as a veteran ballet dancer, I can certainly comment here on *pointe* shoes! And I can say that between the ages of 14 and 40, my feet have lost at least a half-size to the rigours of classical ballet. I'd put it down to the toes being pushed inward, toward the rest of the foot and each other, while dancing, and perhaps to a heavily muscled arch raising the instep a bit. As it stands, (pun intended), I had relatively small feet to begin with; now I can trade shoes with my 10 yr. old niece!
Oh, goodness. I have never thought of the survival bias in the context of the clothing. And now that you've said it - it's so obvious! Thank you for making this video.
Seeing your foot wearing the shoe next to the one not being worn was very helpful to seeing how it looks so tiny but is actually a normal foot size. It still looked small on your foot but not impossibly small haha
I did not know this is something that would interest me at all. But indeed I was fascinated. Now I want custom shoes.
Very fun history. Well done!
Glad to hear that misinterpretations of data due to misunderstandings of what the data actually MEANS (shoe sizes went up because the scale and styles changed, not because feet were actually bigger) is not at all a modern problem 😂
„The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”
Proverbs Chapter 1
I have had this conversation on extremely boring family dinners. I am often asked to "give a sermon" (translation, please talk because we're bored and you say the most amazing things). You say it more interestingly than I, and of course, pictures, which I lack.
Your presentation is wonderful. I really enjoyed the passion and research you put into this video. (Yes, I'll be watching more very soon.)