In the July 1893 of the Almonte Gazette this was announced:
“A Shoe Social is one of the biggest amusements of today. All the girls go behind the screen and stick their toes out of the underneath of the lower edge. The young men select their partners by chalking their initials on the tempting toes. Ar a recent party some of the boys said that some girls gave other boys tips on whose toes to mark?
Hello? Foot shenanigans at a Shoe Social? Say it ain’t so!
Of course we give the girls tips on toes and straight tips too. See all the latest styles from 50 cents up at H. H. Cole’s Boot and Shoe Store in Almonte. —June 3 1893 Almonte Gazette”.
If this happened today imagine how the public would react. It seemed it didn’t take much to entertain these folks, and from the looks of my feet I would have remained a spinster for life.
Onion Parties
As green onions are now on the market, we give here a new game. Six girls stand in a row while one bites a chunk out of an onion and a young man pays 10 cents for a guess as to which one it was ; if he guesses right he kisses the other five ladies. If he does not he is only allowed to kiss the girl with the onion-scented breath.—The tariff is extremely reasonable and we predict that this will be a popular game, as most of the boys will be disposed to go it once even if they lose.
August 25, 1893-Almonte Gazette
Mr. Jas. Weekes has disposed of his grocery business to his brother Alexander, who will continue the same at the old stand, and has purchased the Stock of the Parlor Shoe Store from lb . C. C. Allan
The Alexandra Limp
After her marriage to Prince Albert, Alexandra of Denmark (pictured above) became a British superstar and fashion icon. Devoted fans copied her dresses and necklaces, but things got really weird after Alexandra developed a pronounced limp. Suddenly, women across the UK were limping around on mismatched shoes, all in the name of fashion.
In the well-do-do hotspots of Britain, toadying women began clumping about in a style that suggested they’d recently stood barefoot on discarded Lego.
At first, it was a DIY affair. Women would simply grab odd shoes to help them totter effectively. But canny shopkeepers soon realized there was a pretty penny to be made from what otherwise would be retail’s most unshiftable line – wildly mismatched footwear, with one high heel, and one low.
What did ordinary people make of it all? Not a great deal, if this 1869 report from the North British Mail is anything to go by. “A monstrosity has made itself visible among the female promenaders in Princes Street,” it seethed. “It is as painful as it is idiotic and ludicrous.
“Taking my customary walk the other day, observant of men, women and things, I met three ladies. They were all three young, all three good-looking, and all three lame! At least, such was my impression, seeing as they all carried handsome sticks and limped; but, on looking back, as everyone else did, I could discover no reason why they should do so.
“Indeed, one decent woman expressed her pity in an audible ‘Puir things!’ as she passed, but I was enlightened by hearing a pretty girl explain to her companion, ‘Why that’s the Alexandra limp! How ugly!'”
Related reading:
Taffy Party Comes to Blows and Infection on the Ramsay Line – What was in the Punch?
“Manolo-in” and “Jimmy Choo-in” about Uncomfortable Shoes
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