Buckled shoe styles

[OC Richard]

At first I was going to post this in the History & Heritage area, but since the main point is what is worn today I posted it here.

Why wear buckled shoes? Why has it always been idiomatic to wear buckled shoes and tartan/diced hose for Evening Dress?

It goes back to the 18th century when the same buckled shoes were worn by all men, in Saxon dress and Highland dress, civilian and military:



And tartan/diced hose because that's the only sort of kilt hose there were.

For some reason around the beginning of the 19th century collars got higher and the shoes got lower. More of the foot was exposed and the buckle moved down near the toes



This low-cut style persisted throughout the 19th century. They were the standard shoes of Highland officers throughout the Victorian period, when wearing long hose. I imagine that these were slip-on shoes, that the buckles were non-functional.



And in the civilian world too



At some point somebody must have said "hold on, my shoes are always slipping off!" and they added a strap with a small functional buckle to make the shoes more secure. This created our familiar so-called Mary Jane style, the standard Buckle Brogue today.



The big lower buckle, being merely ornamental, is seen left off sometimes in MacLeay



So that's the natural evolutionary path that lead to our Buckle Brogues of today.

But there's a second path, the Ghillie path.

In MacLeay, Ghillies are usually rather rustic-looking, made of rough tan leather





Yet there is one occurrence in MacLeay of Ghillies in shiny black with nonfunctional buckles added to the toes, and this appears over and over in old photos



Yes the rural outdoor Ghillie had moved indoors, and the Ghillie had come to be regarded as an Evening Dress shoe by the 1920s (though to me the buckle still looks like a tacked-on afterthought)

[Friday]

They were the standard Levee Dress shoes of Highland officers throughout the Victorian period.

As one of those upstarts across the pond in the New World I understand that "Levee Dress" is the second level Court attire. The first layer civilian Court Dress requires uniforms for certain positions. Those who were not in the higher positions still had required dress regulation (Levee Dress) but not quite as ornate.

[Father Bill]

As usual, Richard, some very helpful and informative information. I appreciate what you do for us through your extensive collection and that you're willing to scan and upload so very much of it for our benefit.

A-1, old chap!

[FossilHunter]

It's a shame that the patent buckle brogues no longer seem to be made. The only ones I have seen online or the piper brogues from thistle shoes and they have a fairly heavy sole for marching.

[MacCathmhaoil]

These are for sale on eBay U.K. at the moment, rare size 14U.K. which is 14.5-15U.S. I believe.
Mens Evening Brogue with Traditional Toe Buckle Size 14 UK https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F361588185038

[FossilHunter]

These are for sale on eBay U.K. at the moment, rare size 14U.K. which is 14.5-15U.S. I believe.
Mens Evening Brogue with Traditional Toe Buckle Size 14 UK https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F361588185038

Those are thistle shoes, or at least they used the photos from thistle shoes.

https://thistleshoes.com/product/buckle-brogue/

[MacCathmhaoil]

I bought a pair of the Kiltie brogues years ago on eBay for a ridiculously low price. The claim was military surplus and they shipped from Hong Kong. I replaced the buckles for some sterling silver ones. IMG_0258.jpg

[OC Richard]

As one of those upstarts across the pond in the New World I understand that "Levee Dress" is the second level Court attire. The first layer civilian Court Dress requires uniforms for certain positions. Those who were not in the higher positions still had required dress regulation (Levee Dress) but not quite as ornate.

I realised after I read your post that I shouldn't have restricted my comment to Levee Dress, but any order of dress where Highland officers (or pipers etc) wore long hose. This includes Mess Dress and I added a photo above of a soldier of the 93rd Highlanders showing these shoes. Yes they have buckles, I zoomed in and looked, but for some reason the buckles don't show up very bright in that photo.

One also sees Victorian soldiers wearing the buckle brogues like today (with the added small strap) and even ghillie brogues with added buckles.

[OC Richard]

I will say that a mystery to me is why, around the 1960s, people started wearing Ghillies with Evening Dress without the buckles. In the old days the buckles were nearly always worn, with Evening Dress.

Here, some of the world's best pipers, men who have worn Highland Dress their whole lives. All are wearing Evening Dress jackets and sporrans. Half are wearing plain hose, and only Gordon Walker is wearing buckles. (None are wearing white hose, the Kilt Hire standard.)

[PatrickHughes123]

Thanks a lot for this OC Richard, I just love some of the stuff you post. Very interesting.