Lovely pair of early, unworn tennis shoes. Angels Costumes' rental stock.

Remix Shoes felt like a pilgrimage. Years of looking online, finally a visit.

Nat Turner and I visited three costume houses in Paris last week. It meant charging round at a crazy pace because we did it all in one day, rather ambitious, but we managed to spend enough time at each stop to get the gist of what's available over there for our date, 1912.
I was particularly keen to visit Catherine in Aram as I'd seen some of her stock before but had never visited the house. Her collection of original garments in often pristine condition was as good as I had hoped.
I suppose we are rather spoiled in what we do, items in the costume houses can be museum quality and we would be required to handle them wearing white cotton gloves should we be researching in an institution yet in our day to day work we regularly handle incredible pieces of original clothing, getting right inside and examining the details of the make. It's great practice to maintain a fresh eye for detail, as well as good fun.

Often the stuff just sitting around on shelves is enough to get me excited - Catherine's collection of shoe samples, still on the lasts, was fascinating.

By the way, Nat has just started his own blog - Costumology, worth checking out.

I found these early 20th century mens shoes in Angels just before Christmas.

It was hard to capture the exaggerated shapes clearly in a photo but the full toecap is similar to the Bulldog Toes I blogged about previously and a point on the outside edge of the welt is something I've not seen before.
The shoes are tiny, maybe that's why they were able to survive in such perfect condition,

I had reason to visit Keith at Gamba Theatrical Shoemakers this week and managed to get my camera out for a quick blog post, multi-tasking as ever.

What a treat; clown shoes in progress at the theatrical shoemakers - isn't that exactly as you'd imagine?

Vintage leather shoes from Turkmenistan.

Etsy via Kleidersachen.

A.S. Jasper and Bulldog Toe Shoes

I am reading a book I found in a charity shop - A Hoxton Childhood by A S Jasper.

Telling of his sister's wedding in 1913 to her petty criminal boyfriend Gerry, the author describes him thus: a short corpulent chap, fair hair, heavy jowls on his face, thought the world of himself.

There follows a fantastic description of Gerry's marvellous wedding day outfit -

 I can see Gerry to this day walking to the altar. I think everyone gasped for breath as he walked up the aisle. He had bulldog-toe shoes, peg-top trousers, a silk sash round his stomach, white shirt, no collar, a large silk scarf tied in a double knot around his neck, with the ends tucked in his braces, a long coat with turnback cuffs and pearl buttons and a flat cap like a pancake. All the local 'boys' dressed like this in those days.

I can't tell you how much I wish there was a photograph of this outfit.

Calzados Toledo Footwear. Madrid.

I finally made it back to La Latina neighbourhood and found the shoe shop I blogged about after my research trip.
No web presence, no english, pure artisano, hand crafted, leather footwear in a friendly, welcoming shop. Easy. I may even have found a place in this film to use a pair.

Calzados Toledo can be found at Calle Toledo 20, 28005 Madrid. Tel. 91 366 54 71

Henry Irving's Costume Boots.

The New Acquisitions room at the V&A has this pair of boots worn by nineteenth century stage actor, Henry Irving.

The display card reads -

  'These boots were worn in the 1896 production of Richard III at the Lyceum Theatre. The  heel of the left boot was raised to give him an artificial limp, the difference in height carefully masked from the audience by a panel of red suede. The Times critic wrote 'Irving's Richard is the most Satanic character I have ever seen on the stage.'.

It reminds me of the story of Dustin Hoffman wearing a stone inside his shoe to maintain a consistant limp throughout the filming of Midnight Cowboy and goes to show that not much is new.

A Torero's Suit of Lights at Justo Algaba

Justo Algaba's place was great.
Justo met us in the showroom where he is used to visitors being distracted by the showcases so he didn't mind at all that I started thinking about blogging as soon as I arrived.
He provides for all of a torero's sartorial needs. I particularly liked the montera hat boxes and it was no surprise to learn Justo makes a lot of items which are adapted for the fashion market in Japan. He had some beautiful leather riding boots which unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good enough picture of to share here.
The full torrero costume, or Suit of Lights, consists of a frill-fronted white shirt, black silk tie, pink stockings with black clocks, breeches and braces, waistcoat, jacket, black leather slippers, black montera and of course the cape which is called a Capote de Paseo. The heavily decorated capote de paseo is only worn, along with the montera, as the torero enters the arena and prepares for the event; he swaps over to a lighter, pink cape called a muleta and takes off his hat for the bullfight.
The shoes are like those strange patent evening slippers you can still buy on Jermyn Street, such an odd relic of 18th century men's fashion to remain in use in the 21st century but they do work well on a primped and poised torrero.

Having said that, the bullfight itself is something I find hard to believe thrives to this day. Spain is continually surprising me, so many ways of life survive and contribute to the brilliance of things like the many, many independent family-run shops and businesses  - something we have almost completely lost - whilst on the other hand there are the religious ceremonies and bullfights which are so alien to my culture. It's easy to forget how different Southern Europe is from Northern Europe until you are submerged in it.
Having the opportunity to work in a country is such a completely different experience to visiting as a tourist, it's something I love about my job, we often film in parts of buildings that are closed to the public or get to visit places and witness customs we wouldn't have found ourselves researching without the framework of a script.
I  am thoroughly enjoying discovering more about Spain every day.

Costume Research: Seville & Madrid

I've been in Seville and Madrid researching Spanish 'types'.
To grasp the look of Seville in three days, I took a whistle-stop tour of as many neighbourhoods and venues as I could, allowing me to see a cross-section of society from churchgoers to flea-marketeers, restaurant customers to the everyday patrons of a fantastic flamenco bar called L'Anselma.
Typial colours in winter are rich browns and ochres; the colour of the earth around Seville.
The lady in the fur coat in the top photograph was not unusual.

I saw these great hand-made leather shoes and boots in Madrid, the shop was closed so I had to squeeze my camera between the bars of the shutter to get a record of them, I will find out more and post the details when we go back, the sandals in particular will be very handy for period.