Woven or canvas wedge shoes/sandals with long ties to criss- cross up the legs! Great for stopping the circulation, giving you varicose veins and an interesting tan if worn in the sun. These never stayed up even with the best boy scout knot! (1977). Guys, the worrying thing here is that these actually came from the 14th century.
Espadrilles are traditional shoes that originate from the Pyrenees in Spain. The uppers were made of cotton fabric and the soles made of a rope material. They could be slip on shoes or fasten up the leg with criss crossed ties. They are still produced but they became very popular in the 70s. One reason for this could be that people went on holiday to Spain and bought them back as souvenirs.
The Espadrille was very popular with girls. You could get platform wedge soled espedrilles and they were very smart and comfortable. This was not actually a new fashion. These shoes had been fashionable in the 1940s with film stars such as Lauren Bacall who started a craze for them after her film Key Largo.
I always confused these shoes as some sort of ballet shoes, and I was always surprised that people were happy to get them dirty with normal wear and tear. The shoes were nearly always flat, and the cheaper ones (The ones we purchased) were made of many types of materials, and would be in as many colours as the 1970s could supply. Of course, these were everyday shoes, and they were amazingly comfortable to wear and enjoy. They were great for sunny weather but if you wore them in the rain, your feet just got wet and the soles would fray. It was like going out in your slippers.
I cannot remember it being so, but apparently men wore these quite a lot. In fact, the older men in the 1970s were happy to wear these very comfortable shoes, which either would slip on, or be tied into place.
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