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Show Qj Vidawrigrit We take for granted the clothes we wear, never realizing the evolution evolu-tion and gradual improvement that has taken place through the centuries. A history of clothes and fashion makes interesting reading, and in studying the clothes of a period we learn much aboutv its people and life at the time. Anatole France once said that if a hundred years after his death, he could have but one book to tell him what was going on in the world, choose one that would show him how people were dressing. This would tell more, he said, than any historical, philosophical or fictional work. You will remember the fashion in ladies shoes, some five years" ago, shoes with thick cork soles, 'platform soles,' they were called. These may have appeared to be a new inovation, but we find in history during the 15th century, 'shoes with high cork soles were worn to keep the feet off the filth of the streets.' You see, it is quite true, 'there is really nothing new under the sun,' at least with fashion. In ancient Greece well fitting shoes were a token of good-breeding, and much attention was paid to footwear. The profession of the boot-maker was always most honorable throughout history. Sometime during the 10th to the 14th centuries, the custom arose of throwing a shoe after the bride and groom for luck. Shoes were synonymous with good fortune. At that time, the groom turned at the church door after the ceremony and threw a shoe to the maids of honor. The one who caught it would be first married. |