Saddling Up For School!

You can tell school shopping is at a max right now as the stores are filled with parents and their kids trying on clothes and shoes. It's always interesting to hear stressed parents buying for their children..."Well, I'm not going to buy it if you aren't going to wear it..." Or one of my favorites-"It's this or nothing, make up your mind!" Great way to give choices :) -but looking back I guess I kinda remember those moments. ~sigh~

Watching kids try on shoes the other day made me remember my shoes for the first day of school. Back in the late 50's I got Saddle shoes! You know, those white and black laced leather shoes. I got to wondering where that name came from so looked it up. Evidently the Saddle shoe became popular in the 1950's. They were a sporty shoe like the loafer, and came about before the sneakers were popular. They have a black section across the top middle, resembling a saddle; hence the name Saddle shoes! How about that?

It would be late summer when my shoes would arrive via mail order from either Sears or Alden's catalog. What an exciting event that was when the mailman dropped off a box too big to fit in the mail box! The shoes were so wonderful; bright white with the black under the white laces and the new smell of leather. Usually my shoes were a little big as my mom said I needed them to have room to grow so they would last the year. Consequently tissue was crumpled up and stuffed in the toe so my foot wouldn't slide up and down in the heal. Even so, I usually ended up with a blister on my heal after the first day of school and had to wear a Bandade for a few days after that. After a few months the shoes were looking a little worn so out would come the shoe polish to paint them white again to try to make them look spiffy!

It's interesting to read that Saddle shoes were a sporty shoe as I wore them with my dresses too as seen in the picture with five of my siblings. (I'm the youngest girl:)

Guess they were as versatile as you could make them just as shoes are today.

I will always associate Saddle shoes with school shoes as it is tucked back in my memory from special days now long gone.

Interesting isn't it?