Shoe buckle

Shoe buckles are fashion accessories worn by men and women from the mid-17th century through the 18th century to the 19th century. Shoe buckles were made of a variety of materials including brass, steel, silver or silver gilt, and buckles for formal wear were set with diamonds, quartz or imitation jewels.

History

The modern men's shoe, with heels and laces, was designed at the beginning of the 17th century, which gave rise to a number of ideas: laces and rosette knots, ribbons, "rose of pleated ribbons, cascade of ribbon in a "little goose" or large rackets mounted on metal, in the form of windmill or dragonfly wings". It was in the middle of this flood of eccentricities that the shoe buckle appeared in the middle of the century: "decorative and precious, it is also functional: it allows a quick fastening of the quarter tabs on the upper ". 

Buckled shoes began to replace tied shoes in the mid-17th century: Samuel Pepys wrote in his Diary for 22 January 1660 "This day I began to put on buckles to my shoes, which I have bought yesterday of Mr. Wotton." The fashion at first remained uncommon enough though that even in 1693 a writer to a newspaper complained of the new fashion of buckles replacing ribbons for fastening shoes and knee bands. 

"Appearing around 1660, out of fashion around 1670, and back around 1680, the buckle only became established at the beginning of the 18th century as the obvious fastening for elegant shoes". They became a sign of ostentation, except during mourning, when gold and shiny silver were prohibited. Wolverhampton steel buckles were popular. For evenings, buckles set with precious stones were worn, and a courtier often had a pair of garter buckles to tighten his knee breeches. The excess of Versailles went as far as the creation of buckles set with diamonds: "In 1788, on the eve of the Revolution, Louis XVI – a great lover of precious stones – had a pair made, adorned with 80 identical brilliant-cut diamonds, each weighing more than one carat: it is estimated at 48,000 pounds, or around 400,000 euros. Delivered in 1789, it was probably only worn once, for the opening ceremony of the Estates General ". When it wasn't diamonds, it was the "Rhinestone" of Georges Frédéric Strass, jeweler to the king, known today as strass.

"The shapes, patterns and formats evolved a lot. From 1775 onwards, the size of the buckles became very large, covering the entire instep. Across the Channel, they were called Artois shoe buckles in reference to the Count of Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XVI and future Charles X, then famous for his mirliflor elegance. "

"The men wore enormous silver buckles, so large that they grazed the floor on both sides; they often injured the ankles, and if the blow was violent, it was a real injury. It was often repeated by successive blows and produced a painful wound. I experienced it, and, after having courageously suffered these effects of our divinity, fashion, I was forced to renounce them, and to suffer, with more difficult courage, the sarcasm of men of wit about my little buckles. But as I have always had the mania, blameworthy no doubt, of never entirely following fashion, to the point of often being noticed, I admit that I put some vanity in my little buckles. A present of these large buckles was sent by one of our princes to Prince Henry of Prussia, and the great Frederick made fun of it a lot; he said that we put the buckles of our carriage harnesses on our shoes ". This provoked mockery: In Sheridan 's play, The Journey to Scarborough (1777), Lord Foppington quipped: if the buckles had previously served to hold the shoe, "the situation is now reversed, and the shoe serves only to hold the buckle. "

The French Revolution gradually put an end to buckles, signs of debauchery and luxury. "From the autumn of 1789, "patriotic gifts" sent 1 million livres worth of shoe buckles to the mints, in the tradition of the castings of the Ancien Régime ". The National Dictionary of Pierre-Nicolas Chantreau defined silver buckles in 1790 as a "superfluous ornament which designates an aristocrat, or an egoist with a heart of bronze".

In Britain in 1791 an attempt was made by buckle manufactures to stop the change in fashion by appealing to the then Prince of Wales Prince George. While the prince did start to require them for his court, this didn't stop the decline of the shoe buckle. It has been suggested that the decline drove the manufacturers of steel buckles to diversify into producing a range of cut steel jewellery.

From 1792 onwards, the need to finance the war against European sovereigns inspired ceremonies during which citizens sent their silver shoe buckles to be melted down, to save the "Fatherland in danger". In exchange, they received square buckles, made of iron or brass, on which an inscription congratulated the donor for having paid "the price of French patriotism". This caused the bankruptcy of English manufacturers: "in the Birmingham-Wolverhampton region alone, the number of buckle makers fell from 253 in 1770 to... barely 20 in 1818." In addition, the Continental Blockade imposed on the British crown by Napoleon in 1806 contributed greatly to this. Bonaparte, First Consul and then Emperor, himself wore buckles on his shoes, and encouraged French production, particularly in Paris. "The men's shoe buckle cast its last flames under the Empire (1804-1814), which were extinguished under the Restoration (1814-1830)".

Separate buckles remained fashionable until they were abandoned along with high-heeled footwear and other aristocratic fashions in the years after the French Revolution, although they were retained as part of ceremonial and court dress until well into the 20th century. 

Knee buckle

Knee buckles are used to fasten the knee-high boots just below the level of the knee.

Sourced from Wikipedia