Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

Women from the ankle down : the story of shoes and how they define us / Rachelle Bergstein.

by Bergstein, Rachelle.

View full image

Shoes -- Design -- History

Shoes -- Social aspects.

Shoes -- History -- 20th century.

xiv, 284 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-271) and index.

Ferragamo and the wartime wedge (1900-1938) -- MGM, the Great Depression, and pulling yourself up by your ruby slippers (1936-1939) -- Back to the drawing board (1937-1943) -- The femme fatale and the original power pump (1944-1948) -- The stiletto (1950-1954) -- The feminine balancing act (1953-1959) -- Flats, or some like it not (1957-1959) -- From dolly birds to Birkenstocks (1961-1966) -- These boots are made for the Valkyrie (1965-1969) -- Props, platforms, and porno (1970-1974) -- The lord of the gender-bending dance (1977-1979) -- Manolo, Molloy, and the new power shoes (1975-1982) -- The workout is not a spectator sport (1982-1988) -- The cool kid trinity: Vans, Chuck Taylors, and Doc Martens (1982-1994) -- Girl power and Mary Janes (1994-1999) -- Shoes and the single girl (1998-2008) -- The search for ruby slippers (2000-present).

"What is it about a pair of shoes that so enchants women of all ages, demographics, political affiliations, and style tribes? Part social history, part fashion record, part pop-culture celebration, Women from the Ankle Down seeks to answer that question as it unfolds the story of shoes in the twentieth century. The tale begins in the rural village of Bonito, Italy, with a visionary young shoemaker named Salvatore Ferragamo and ends in New York City with a fictional socialite and trendsetter named Carrie Bradshaw. Along the way it stops in Hollywood, where Judy Garland first slipped on her ruby slippers; New Jersey, where Nancy Sinatra heard something special in a song about boots; and the streets of Manhattan, where a transit-worker strike propelled women to step into cutting-edge athletic shoes. Fashion aficionado Rachelle Bergstein shares the stories behind these historical moments, interweaving the design innovations and social changes that gave each one its lasting significance and appeal. Bergstein shows how the story of shoes is the story of women, told from the ankle down. Beginning with the well-heeled suffragettes in the 1910s, women have fought for greater freedom and mobility, a struggle that exploded in the 1960s with the women's liberation movement and culminated in the new millennium with our devotion to personal choice. Featuring interviews with designers, historians, and cultural experts, and a cast of real-life characters, from Marilyn Monroe to Jane Fonda, from Gwen Stefani to Manolo Blahnik, Women from the Ankle Down is a lively, compelling look at the evolution of modern women and the fashion that reflects--and has shaped--their changing lives."--Dustjacket.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal