FOOTGEAR.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue II, 14 July 1894, Page 30

FOOTGEAR.

In an article on ‘ Footgear ’ in the Daily News the writer says If the young, beautifnl, and aristocratic ladies who lead the fashion in this country would only start a new mode of footgear there would in a few years be a wonderful change in this department of dress. We now associate the idea of smartness with the pointed toe, but we should very soon learn to do so with the shape of a boot moulded closely upon that of the foot of which it is destined to be the covering. The change ought to be a radical one. The greatest length of the sensible boot would be from the inner side of the heel to the top of the great toe, but this length need only extend sufficiently far inwards to accommodate the great toe and its nearest neighbour. The line might then slope off to the metatarsal bone of the little toe, across which we should then get the greatest width. Where most of the fashionable bootmakers fail at the present moment in doing justice to the beauty of the human foot, is by effacing, as they generally do, the exquisite arch of the instep, that which is seen on its under side. This is almost completely obscured by the ordinary footgear. Hygienic bootmakers assert that a straight line is necessary in order to fulfil anatomical conditions, but anyone can be convinced, by the most cursory glance at his own foot, that a graceful inward curve breaks this straight line from the metatarsal bone of the great toe to the commencement of the heel. Could this only be allowed to remain in evidence, one might wear a sensible boot without any suggestion of clumsiness. Seen at first in the best materials and on the best-dressed women, this would soon carry with it that suggestion of high-bred smartness which is found to recommend a fashion to all classes, and the reform wonld not be long in making its way not only into every boot manufactory in the kingdom but down to those who need it most, viz., the working men and women of the country. These are they who now sutler daily from heavy, ill-constructed boots and shoes, though it is probably the wearers of fashionable foot gear who grow relatively the greatest number of corns. The idea of the bootmaker at present is to make the extremes! length of the boot come as far as possible in the centre of the foot, but this is contrary to nature’s intention, and ought therefore to be untenable.