Snazzy shoes on Army Chief of Staff, 1938

[dhermann1]

Check out this pic from Shorpy.com.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/6645
The US Army Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Malin Craig, in 1938, chatting with Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Note Gen. Craig's shoes and socks! They're not wing tips, they're not cap toes. And patterned socks, as well. I know Army officers of the time wore light brown socks with their dress uniforms, but this picture really startled me.
Shorpy.com is FULL of great pics like this.

 

[Fletch]

Army officers' uniform regs were rather loose before WW2. Senior officers, especially, could get away with certain things - Clarence Tinker sported sideburns, cuffs were common on the pinks trousers, and MacArthur was said to have been fond of "plum colored ties."

 

[dhermann1]

I kind of knew that. Interesting illustration of the fact. So what exactly would you call this style of shoe, other than a brogue?

 

[flat-top]

I kind of knew that. Interesting illustration of the fact. So what exactly would you call this style of shoe, other than a brogue?

I believe I've seen that style called a "U Tip".

 

[Mr. 'H']

I'd love to have a pair of those shoes myself. That's some picture. I must check out that site.

That's some hat on the other guy. I heard a comment once that the more extravagent the army officers' uniforms the more of a banana republic it Is

 

[Widebrim]

That's some hat on the other guy. I heard a comment once that the more extravagent the army officers' uniforms the more of a banana republic it Is

There's likely much truth to that. And how about the riding boots with spurs? They're waiting for FDR, for Pete's sake, not Hoppalong Cassidy...lol

 

[cookie]

I just saw this snap on SF and now its this week's avatar...sorry Errol your 100th birthday is over...

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Balmoral

I kind of knew that. Interesting illustration of the fact. So what exactly would you call this style of shoe, other than a brogue?

The way the part of the instep where the shoes lace looks defines these as Balmoral, at least that's the term we use in the U.S. The type of shoe that has, well, for lack of a better term "flaps" where the laces are are called Blucher in the U.S. and Derby in the U.K.

Here are two links to Allen Edmonds shoes that show the distinction:

Blucher: http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/product_6478727_1_40000000001_-1?categoryId=123802&top_category=120552

Balmoral: http://www.allenedmonds.com/aeonline/product_6478359_1_40000000001_-1?categoryId=123802&top_category=120552

 

[Fletch]

I believe I've seen that style called a "U Tip".

No, that's what you always use after a Q-tip. lol

If this style even lasted long enough to have a name, it would be in shoe ads or catalogs from the time. I know I've seen them in spectator, but this is the first dress shoe.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.

It was a style that "Alan McAfee", the British shoemaker, specialized in. I have an Alexander & Oviatt store catalogue from 1925 that shows the very same shoe.

No, that's what you always use after a Q-tip. lol

If this style even lasted long enough to have a name, it would be in shoe ads or catalogs from the time. I know I've seen them in spectator, but this is the first dress shoe.

 

[Tomasso]

I would term the shoe a Full Brogue.

 

[Mr. 'H']

For ease of reference on this picture:

 

[cookie]

.

It was a style that "Alan McAfee", the British shoemaker, specialized in. I have an Alexander & Oviatt store catalogue from 1925 that shows the very same shoe.

Care to post a snap of them?

 

[billgaston]

Just goes to prove that when you are a General you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want to.

 

[MisterCairo]

I've never seen an American serviceman out-ribboned by anyone before! Only TWO - and a Major-General!

 

[skyvue]

I know I've seen them in spectator, but this is the first dress shoe.

Dumb question, I'm sure, but I've got lots to learn about shoes: Are you saying that spectators weren't considered dress shoes?

And if so, are you using "dress" to refer to formal wear, not in the looser way it's often used today?

 

[Fletch]

MisterCairo: Specs, bucks and the like were classed as sport shoes then. There was even a category called sport suits - beltbacks, bellows pockets and such.

What Gen. Craig is wearing would have been a dress (as in business) style shoe.

skyvue: The WW1 military wasn't very prodigious in handing out decorations - and the interwar military even less so. The most decorated officer I can recall from the post-WW1 era was Billy Mitchell - he even earned two sets of wings, US and (IIRC) British.

 

[MisterCairo]

I think you got skyvue and I reversed, but I get the point!

 

[skyvue]

Specs, bucks and the like were classed as sport shoes then. There was even a category called sport suits - beltbacks, bellows pockets and such.

What Gen. Craig is wearing would have been a dress (as in business) style shoe.

The difference being the fact that specs are two-tone, perhaps? Is that what makes the general's shoes considered dressier?