Ladies Vintage Shoes

Ladies' vintage shoes are so lovely I decided to catalogue the best examples sold at Fab Fings. Sourcing vintage shoes is a bittersweet thing for me as, despite them often being serious cute and well made with amazing attention to detail, as all too often the brand and factory has closed down, leaving me feeling the loss. When I compare the shoes on offer today with the vintage shoes I source, the latter wins hands and feet down! Excellent materials, beautiful designs, not cripplingly high, good arch support, long-lasting and made in England or Italy usually, compared to synthetic mass-produced ugliness made in China. How and why was this allowed to happen?

The ladies vintage shoes above are from the 70s or 80s and are by Roland Cartier.

Leather outer, leather insole, leather lined (apart from the heel) and leather outer sole.

Such quality! They were made in Italy.

The ladies vintage court shoes above are from the 70s or 80s and are by Evan-Picone.

Leather outer, leather lined, leather insole, leather heels and leather outer sole too. Incredible attention to detail and so much better than today's standards!

They were made in Spain. Evan-Picone was founded by Charles Evans who sold the business to Revlon in 1962, bought it back four years later and then sold it to Jones Apparel Group.

The ladies' vintage shoes above are probably from the 80s and are by Ravel.

They are made of leather and have a hard plastic sole with no grip, so perfect for dancing. Most shoes today have lots of grip on the soles so do not make the best dance shoes. These shoes also have a low heel relative to today's standards: dancing might well have been in mind when designing them!

Ravel was founded in 1934 in England and was known for making good quality yet affordable footwear that was different to the other major manufacturers of the day. The business was sold to Clarks in 1967 and finally closed down in 2007. It's demise was put down to the relocation of the head offices from London to Somerset, the workforce not being instep with the latest trends of the capital.

The ladies' vintage shoes above were made by Holmes of Norwich, England.

Made from red patent leather with red suede bows. No outer sole grip so excellent for dancing, as were most vintage party shoes. All leather lined too! This was the standard in the past but such quality would cost a fortune nowadays. These shoes were made by one of the last major shoe makers in England. A piece of history!

Some exerts from an interesting article on Holmes by the Eastern Daily Press:

In 1966 600 workers were treated to a night out at the Norwich Theatre Royal to see My Fair Lady to celebrate the fact they had made 900 pairs of shoes for the production.

...the industry was torn to pieces by cheap imports, recessions and other factors. Today it is a shadow of its former self but we can still be proud of the shoe-makers which remain. They do not include Edwards & Holmes, sadly. Its factory closed in 1990.

Read more of the article here.

The ladies' vintage shows above were made by Timpson. They have a leather outer and leather insole. These 20s style shoes have very good arch support, which is very unusual in today's shoe, which all seem to be made for flat-footed people. Flat soled shoes must be cheap to make!

Timpson was founded in 1865 by shoemaker William Timpson and his brother-in-law Walter Joyce. They started out, selling and repairing footwear, in a small shop on Oldham Road in Manchester. Later on, the company moved to Kettering and then to Wythenshawe in Manchester. Timpson is now only a shoe repair business having sold the shoe making side to George Oliver in the 80s.

See what ladies vintage shoes are in stock at Fab Fings by clicking HERE.