This PowerPoint segment explains the popularity of the Boots from the past and present and the pioneers who gave it a pop culture boost.

1. BOOTS ARE MADE FOR
WALKIN
BY SUSAN GRAHAM

2. THE BEGINNINGS
• A FASHION BOOT IS A BOOT WORN FOR REASONS OF STYLE OR FASHION
(RATHER THAN FOR UTILITARIAN PURPOSES – E.G. NOT HIKING BOOTS, RIDING
BOOTS, RAIN BOOTS, ETC.). THE TERM IS USUALLY APPLIED TO WOMEN’S BOOTS.
FASHION BOOTS COME IN A WIDE VARIETY OF STYLES, FROM ANKLE TO THIGH-
LENGTH, AND ARE USED FOR CASUAL, FORMAL, AND BUSINESS ATTIRE.
ALTHOUGH BOOTS WERE A POPULAR STYLE OF WOMEN’S FOOTWEAR IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY, THEY WERE NOT RECOGNIZED AS A HIGH FASHION ITEM
UNTIL THE 1960S. THEY BECAME WIDELY POPULAR IN THE 1970S AND HAVE
REMAINED A STAPLE OF WOMEN’S WINTER WARDROBES SINCE THEN.
• BUT HOWEVER NOT JUST THE CHICKS LIKE WEARING THE BOOTS SO DO THE
GUYS

3. PRE-1960S
• IN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES, ANKLE AND CALF-LENGTH BOOTS WERE COMMON
FOOTWEAR FOR WOMEN. RISING HEMLINES MADE LONGER STYLES OF BOOTS POPULAR. IN
1913, DENISE POIRET, THE WIFE OF CELEBRATED FRENCH COUTURIER PAUL POIRET, CAUSED A
SENSATION IN PARIS AND NEW YORK BY WEARING KNEE-LENGTH BOOTS IN WRINKLED
MOROCCO LEATHER. DESIGNED BY HER HUSBAND, MADE BY THE BOTTIER FAVEREAU, AND
STYLED WITH A LOW HEEL AND A SQUARE TOE, SHE HAD VERSIONS IN RED, WHITE, GREEN,
AND YELLOW. BY 1915 THE NEW YORK TIMES WAS REPORTING THAT, INSPIRED BY MME
POIRET, WOMEN HAD ADOPTED THESE "RUSSIAN BOOTS" AS AN ACCEPTABLE ALTERNATIVE TO
BARING ANKLES AND CALVES. BY THE 1920S RUSSIAN BOOTS WERE AVAILABLE IN A VARIETY
OF STYLES, CALF- OR KNEE-LENGTH, WITH A CUBAN OR LOUIS HEEL, WHICH COULD BE PULL-
ON, OR ZIP-FASTENED FOR A CLOSER FIT. WORN WITH KNEE-LENGTH SKIRTS, THEY OFTEN
FEATURED DECORATIVE FEATURES SUCH AS ELABORATE STITCHING OR FUR TRIMS.

4. THE RISE OF GO-GO BOOTS
• GO-GO BOOTS ARE A LOW-HEELED STYLE OF WOMEN'S FASHION BOOT FIRST INTRODUCED
IN THE MID-1960S. THE ORIGINAL GO-GO BOOTS, AS DEFINED BY ANDRÉ COURRÈGES IN
1964, WERE WHITE, LOW-HEELED, AND MID-CALF IN HEIGHT, A SPECIFIC STYLE WHICH IS
SOMETIMES CALLED THE COURRÈGES BOOT. SINCE THEN, THE TERM GO-GO BOOT HAS
COME TO INCLUDE THE KNEE-HIGH, SQUARE-TOED BOOTS WITH BLOCK HEELS THAT WERE
VERY POPULAR IN THE 1960S AND 1970S; AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF VARIATIONS
INCLUDING KITTEN HEELED VERSIONS AND COLORS OTHER THAN WHITE.
• FASHION BOOTS WERE REVIVED IN THE EARLY 1960S BY DESIGNERS SUCH AS BETH LEVINE,
ALTHOUGH AT FIRST THEY FEATURED FASHIONABLE HIGH HEELS SUCH AS THE STILETTO
AND KITTEN HEELS. THE EARLIEST GO-GO BOOTS WERE MID-CALF, WHITE AND FLAT-
HEELED, AS SEEN IN THE WORK OF THE DESIGNER ANDRÉ COURRÈGES, WHO IS OFTEN
CREDITED WITH CREATING THE STYLE. THE SIMPLE MINIMALISM OF THE COURRÈGES BOOT
WAS EASILY AND WIDELY REPRODUCED FOR THE MASS MARKET. COURRÈGES BOOTS
PROVIDED THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GO-GO BOOT, WHICH
INCREASINGLY CAME HIGHER UP THE LEG AND WAS MADE IN ALTERNATIVE COLORS. WHILE
REMAINING LOW-ISH, THE HEEL ALSO BECAME HIGHER AND CHUNKIER. THE EARLIEST
COURRÈGES BOOTS WERE MADE OF LEATHER, SUCH AS KIDSKIN OR PATENT LEATHER, BUT
MANY OF THE SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS AND COPIES WERE MADE IN PVC, VINYL, AND OTHER
PLASTICS.
• IN 1966, THE SONG "THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN'" WAS RELEASED AND
PERFORMED BY A GO-GO BOOT WEARING NANCY SINATRA, WHO IS CREDITED WITH
FURTHER POPULARIZING THE BOOT. TIM GUNN SUGGESTS THAT SINATRA HELPED
ESTABLISH THE BOOT AS "A SYMBOL OF FEMALE POWER.“ FEMALE DANCERS ON THE
TELEVISION SHOWS HULLABALOO AND SHINDIG! ALSO WORE THE SHORT, WHITE BOOTS.
THIS LED TO THE BOOTS SOMETIMES BEING CALLED 'HULLABALOO BOOTS,' AS IN AN

5. 1970S AND 1980S
• ALTHOUGH FASHION BOOTS AND PARTICULARLY 'GO-GO BOOTS' ARE OFTEN DESCRIBED AS 'TYPICAL' OF 1960S FASHION, IT WASN'T UNTIL THE
1970S THAT BOOTS BECAME A MAINSTREAM FASHION STAPLE FOR WOMEN; FOR MANY WOMEN IN THE 1960S, BOOTS WERE SEEN AS 'A
SUPERFLUOUS ACCESSORY' MORE SUITABLE FOR TEENAGERS AND COLLEGE GIRLS THAN A GROWN WOMAN WHILE, IN 1968, 75% OF OFFICE
MANAGERS SURVEYED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES DISAPPROVED OF THEIR FEMALE STAFF WEARING BOOTS TO WORK. BY CONTRAST, IN 1977,
BOOTS MADE UP 20 PERCENT OF ALL WOMEN'S SHOE SALES IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE END OF THE DECADE SAW FASHION BOOTS
OCCUPYING MULTIPLE PAGES OF MAINSTREAM MAIL-ORDER CATALOGS BY COMPANIES SUCH AS SEARS, WARDS, AND KAYS.
• THE EARLY 70S WERE TYPIFIED BY TIGHT-FITTING, VINYL BOOTS RISING TO THE KNEE OR HIGHER. THESE SOMETIMES HAD MOCK LACING ON THE
FRONT AND ZIPPED UP AT THE REAR; THEY COULD BE WORN UNDER THE NEW MAXI DRESSES, WHICH HAD SLITS IN THEM TO SHOW THE LEG. IN
SUMMER, PALE, HIGH-LEGGED BOOTS IN PRINTED OR OPEN WEAVE FABRIC WERE TEAMED WITH SUMMERY DRESSES; THESE OFTEN HAD EXTENSIVE
CUT-OUTS, SO THAT THEY WERE MORE LIKE HIGH-LEGGED SANDALS THAN CONVENTIONAL BOOTS. PLATFORM-SOLED STYLE WERE ALSO
POPULAR. THE MULTI-COLORED SUEDE AND CANVAS OVER-THE-KNEE BOOTS PRODUCED BY THE LONDON STORE BIBA WERE SO SOUGHT-AFTER
THAT QUEUES WOULD FORM OUTSIDE THE STORE WHEN A DELIVERY WAS DUE. BY THE LATE 1970S, FORM-FITTING, SHAPED-LEG BOOTS WERE
BEING REPLACED WITH STRAIGHT-LEGGED DESIGNS, FREQUENTLY WORN OVER JEANS OR OTHER PANTS, WHICH WERE OFTEN PULLED-ON RATHER
THAN ZIP-FASTENED. OF SHORTER, CALF-LENGTH BOOTS, OFTEN WORN LAYERED WITH SOCKS AND TIGHTS, AND A REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN
OVER-THE-KNEE AND THIGH-LENGTH BOOTS, WHICH WERE POPULARIZED BY PUNK AND NEW WAVE PERFORMERS SUCH AS BLONDIE’S DEBBIE
HARRY.
• IN CONTRAST TO THE PRECEDING DECADE, THE 1980S SAW A SHARP DECLINE IN THE POPULARITY OF HIGH-LEGGED BOOTS. INSTEAD, ANKLE
BOOTS IN A VARIETY OF STYLES WERE PARTICULARLY POPULAR, AS WERE LOW-HEELED, CALF-LENGTH, PULL-ON STYLES. KNEE LENGTH BOOTS,
IF WORN AT ALL, TENDED TO BE LOW-HEELED, PULL-ON STYLES, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS “RIDING BOOTS,” THAT WERE COMBINED WITH
LONG SKIRTS. IN THE LATE 1980S, OVER-THE-KNEE BOOTS MADE A REAPPEARANCE; THESE WERE LOOSE-FITTING, LOW-HEELED STYLES IN
SUEDE, OFTEN BRIGHTLY COLORED OR DECORATED WITH BROCADE. IN 1990, KARL LAGERFELD INCLUDED THIGH-LENGTH SATIN BOOTS IN HIS
FALL/WINTER COUTURE COLLECTION FOR CHANEL, USING THE BOOTS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO LEGGINGS, BUT IT WASN’T UNTIL THE FOLLOWING
DECADE THAT THE INHERENT ELEGANCE OF CLASSIC DRESS BOOT STYLES WAS REDISCOVERED

6. BOOTS PIONEERS
Nancy Sinatra
Best known for her
signature classic “These
Boots Are Made for Walkin
Goldie Hawn one of the best actresses
of all time.

7. BOOTS PIONEERS
Not only the chicks are the pioneers of the
boots
There’s one guy who also had the style for
the suede boots.
Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990) gave the
boys a chance to walk the suede boots. Just
as the go-go boots was on the rise for the
girls in the 1960s the suede boots for the
guys was also on top especially the color
black suede boots

8. BOOTS 1990S AND BEYOND
Boots of the 1990s were
also popularized among
them the Kinky Boots and
wedge heel boots are the
tops to this day.

9. THE ANTHEM
• 50 YEARS AGO NANCY SINATRA RELEASED THE
SONG THAT WILL CHANGED THE STYLE OF FASHION
FOREVER WITH HER SIGNATURE SONG “THESE
BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN” IN 1966.
• COUNTRY POP SINGER LYNN ANDERSON (WHO
PASSED AWAY IN 2015) COVERED THE SONG ON
THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW WITH A GROOVY
COUNTRY POP FEEL TO IT.

10. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET STEPPED ON
For the last five decades boots
has made a huge difference for
both the guys and the girls
with one statement
These boots are made for
walkin
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots
Are gonna walk all over you