16th Century Footwear

Held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Object descriptio n: England Man's Shoe, 1530-1545, Leather, 9 x 3 3/8 x 2 in. (22.86 x 8.57 x 5.08 cm) AC1999.46. 39

Some assorted facts about 16th century English footwear.

For many people, the first type of footwear that springs to mind when thinking about the German Renaissanc e is the cow mouth shoe or kuhlmaulsh ue. Period art often depicts the Renaissanc e German wearing a low profile, slip on shoe. Noted for their broad square toe, these shoes cross gender and class barriers and can been seen on art from a wide region. Soldiers and women represent a large population of the illustrate d owners. Extant shoes exist in many collection s; two predominan t excavation s include Alpirsbach and Kempten, Germany. By comparing these finds with existing art work, it is possible to reconstruc t a replica of this style.

Illustrati ons of shoemakers , cordwainer s, and cobblers at work. Demonstrat es several tools and steps of the shoemaking process, as well as the years when specific styles of shoes were actually being made.

Modifying modern footwear into a style for the 16th/17th centuries.

A blog/tutor ial showing the steps in constructi ng a 16th century shoe.

Gathers images of English clothing from early Tudor to Early Stuart times, with a focus on the Elizabethan period.

This website is designed to provide insight and hints on recreating and constructing historical raised heels, such as chopines, pantoufles, zoccoli, and the like. I have based my construction techniques on extant examples, written documentation, pictorial evidence, and educated guesses where information is not available.

Images of shoemakers ' shops and shoes on the move; photos of extant 16th century German shoes.

Article including extant examples.

In the predominan tly agrarian economy of sixteenth- and seventeent h-century England, the most important industries were associated with agricultur e. Contempora ries usually took the leather industry for granted, with the result that historians have largely ignored it. Yet there are grounds for regarding this industry as second or third only to the manufactur e of woolen cloth as an industrial occupation .