I've seen many period pictures and the women all wore some dainty little slippers of satin, etc. I may be misled by inaccurate movie depictions as I've never done any study on the actual clothes worn during this time. With all that said, Fanny's shoes were the ugliest weirdest things I've ever seen. Even if she wore them in 2010 they are butt ugly. Are they accurate to the time?
shareI'm no authority, but the movie's costume design was deeply researched. So I imagine the shoes are accurate.
My reaction, when I read your post, was to remember vaguely that in those days, ballet slipper-type shoes were for balls, lounging about looking beautiful, and nothing else. That is because they were so delicate and flimsy that they barely lasted through a night of dancing. You certainly wouldn't wear them out on the street for longer than it took to step from your carriage into someone's home. (In the movie, doesn't Fanny say that her shoes were ruined after one night of dancing?)
But you know what they say – a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So I looked here:
http://www.fashion-era.com/1800_accesories.htm#Footwear
and I think this page answers your question. Apparently, even for the wealthy, Regency shoes for ladies were so impractical that even fashionable women began to wear leather, flat-soled boots for general day wear. I would bet those are what what we see on Fanny... who loved clothing, but who wasn't rich, and had to do some pretty vigorous walking.
Many costume designers do “cheat” the period a little. I remember that in the movie Witness, Kelly McGillis’s Amish clothing was made slightly un-Amish to flatter her better. And (IIRC from the DVD's director's comments) the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice actually changed the time period by one or two decades because the director found the reality of what the characters would have worn at the real time of the events too unattractive.
I didn't even notice the shoes! I'll have to look again! I would think all the research that was done for the film that the clothing would have been historically accurate.
I think she's the saddest girl ever to hold a martini.
You are wrong, somewhere in the earlier threads someone commented about the shoes. They, I believe, loved them. What I can't believe is that you are commenting about the footwear of the early 19th century and do not seem to perceive that you are imposing your own 21st century fashion sense on them. You must be very young. Personally, I've lived through too many changes of fashion modernity to ever judge.
As for research, Kressie's ability in that capacity is formidable. I'd rely upon her expertise.
"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."
I can't remember Fanny's shoes at all because I rarely notice that kind of thing. But I did notice Toots' shoes which I thought were really cute - the ones she was wearing when she was crossing the bridge. Can't really impose my 21st century fashion sense on them (since I don't have much of one) but they stood out to me as being adorable on her.
shareha ha ha...now now guilty soul...I know you are way too young as well to remember what sort of footwear was in fashion in the 19th century. Perhaps the OP thinks Fanny Brawne would have been wearing Nikes in those scenes!
I think she's the saddest girl ever to hold a martini.
tiger, my dear. I didn't mean to imply that I had actually lived in the 19th century. I was just remarking about the syle changes over my lifetime and how everything, once stylish, eventually becomes laughable, and then stylish again. Rather than criticizing, one's attitude should just be acceptance.
"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."
oh dear...you did realize I was being sarcastic did you not? This should have been indicated with the smiley and tongue poker! Yes acceptance that we as fans of this film, have the right to prod people who do not accept the film as they should! lol
I think she's the saddest girl ever to hold a martini.
You: sarcasm. Me: dry humor. Yes, electronic communications does have it's limitations. I refuse to resort to emoticons; they give me the creeps.
So, what kind of shoes are you wearing?
"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."
A bit of emotiphobia eh? <<<ignore this then>>> I'm willing to resort to nearly anything to get a point across...
I'm shoeless at this juncture.
I think she's the saddest girl ever to hold a martini.
lol.. . gosh you nailed it right on! those shoes LOL .. grotesque, comical, and plain old ugly :) but of course someone had to comment to say the opposite ... lol
share"I can't bellieve no one has mentioned her shoes"
I can't believe someone has mentioned her shoes.
Shoes? Shoes! SHOES!!?? This is a movie about the beautiful, yet short-lived relationship between a genius and his girl!!! . . . and we're debating her shoes!?!? Ha! (Frankly, just between y'all and me, I loved the black-buckled ones she wore -- I'd wear'em myself, if I had a pair, but then, I'm a 57 year old lady. . . old enough to want to be from the early 19th century!!)
shareThe fact that shoes are being discussed shows that this film so entranced some of us that we even consider the fine details of costume.
What I found curious about the shoes was that while Fanny's shoes were clumsy and fairly ugly, those worn by Keat's were rather elegant, although not practical for tramping across hampstead Heath.
alfieswitch -
If you'll rewatch the film, you'll notice that when Keats was out "tramping across Hampstead Heath" he wore a brogan-type shoe. He also had them on in the scene when Toots (and Fanny) find him ill under the bushes. The pair of shoes he wore in the house were just that: shoes made for wearing around the house, or shoes one would wear to a social function. The same principle concerning Fanny's foot attire: slippers for dancing and sturdier shoes when out and about. The same principle we adhere to today, just different styles.
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I assumed the shoes were accurate to the time period, but I also thought the shoes in the film were hideous! So unflattering. They made all the women's feet look huge and clumsy and urgh.
Though perhaps they looked daintier back in the day when people's feet were quite a bit smaller. I know for the movie A League of Their Own which was supposed to have taken place during the 1940s, they couldn't use real vintage shoes and instead had to special order shoes because all the vintage shoes were all too small for modern women. Perhaps those shoes looked better on the much-smaller feet of women in the 1800s.
In the movie though, they were ugly to the point of being distracting. They looked like jester shoes. Yuck.
"And then he started cheating...especially at magnetic travel scrabble."