The 1960s

Teenagers began to dictate fashion in the 1960s, moving away from the strict structure of previous generations. Teenagers no longer wanted the expensive fabrics and uncomfortable design of their mothers’ shoes. Instead, they demanded comfort and affordability. This change began with the new “chisel toe” shoe that sported long, flattened square toes.

As skirts got shorter, shoes became flatter. This led to the advent of the most popular 1960s shoe, the Pilgrim pump designed by Roger Vivier. Originally designed to accompany Saint Laurent’s graphic shift dresses, this shoe had a simple square heel and a tapered toe, with a large buckle on the upper foot as a modern interpretation of the Puritan Pilgrims. Due to its simple design and comfort, this shoe became wildly popular and sold over 200,000 pairs to customers including Jackie Onassis and Catherine Deneuve. For teenagers looking for less expensive version of the Pilgrim shoe, designers began creating alternatives to the simple flats, such as taps shoes with Cuban heels, round toes and button bars. The “Platypus” was a flat shoe designed by Mary Bowler who made shoes for boutique collections. This designed featured flat shoes with short, square heels in cream leather and plumb colored suede.

The 1960s was also a time of bright colors and interesting fabrics, epitomized in the pop art movement. This movement carried over into the shoe design of the time, most notably in the collections of Mary Quant who began to use PVC plastic and bright neon colors in her shoes. In 1965 Quant created a plastic, brightly colored kitten heel boot for her Wet collection. Two years later, she continued her experimentation with primary colored, waterproof ankle boots made of plastic and lined with cotton jersey in different colors.

Monochromatic designs were also popular during this time—inspired by the black and white paintings of Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely. Black and white patterns began to appear on shoes and boots with abstract patterns.

The end of the 60s ushered in the time of space age fashion inspired by the moon walk by Russian cosmonauts. Designer Andres Courreges created wide, flat pull-on low boots in white glace or kid leather. Silver and white became the new black giving a futuristic feeling to boots and shoes.