Lincoln Public Library hosts seminar on the history of shoes – Wicked Local Lincoln

By Christina Bagnilincoln@wickedlocal.com

Nowhere is the phrase history repeats itself more accurate than in the world of fashion only look to the returning trends of bell-bottom jeans and crop-tops for proof.

Fashion historian Karen Antonowicz found herself fascinated by the cyclical world of clothing while working as a dietician, and hasnt looked back. She earned her master's degree in textiles, fashion merchandising, and design, with a concentration in historic costume and textiles from the University of Rhode Island, and has taught fashion history there ever since.

Antonowicz will be holding a seminar titled "Shoes Through the Decades" at the Lincoln Public Library Feb. 23.

Its about the way people lived, not only what they wore, she said. In the Victorian age, the wealthy liked having many things around them. Their houses and outfits were very cluttered. Now, its more about minimalism; theres a whole zeitgeist. Its the spirit of the times, because fashion follows the world.

Nowadays, Antonowicz said, one can see the trend of healthy living mixed with the more casual way people live their lives through the lens of popular shoes.

Its all about the sneaker. There are more flats, now. Uggs are still pretty big, she said, referring to the Australian shoe company. Some girls still like heels when they go out. Designers make these shoes desirable, getting that height and style.

While shoe styles today are all over the place, certain trends reflect the population they appear in.

We get a lot of students in our store, and they tend to like older styles, more vintage, like Oxford shoes, she said.

The store she is referring to is Nostalgia, a three-floor antiques shop Antonowicz runs with her husband in Providence, Rhode Island. Between teaching and running Nostalgia, Antonowicz spends what time she has left furthering her love of education by running focused seminars on periods of fashion history.

She explained that looking at footwear can tell a lot about a generation, from Queen Victoria right up to the sneaker of today. She referenced the British series Downton Abbey as an example of accurate early-century clothing.

They had narrow shoes then, at least the wealthy families did, Antonowicz said. Then, after the war the hemline (of dresses) came up, and the shoes and stockings became more elaborate because you could see them. Then, in the 1920s, the hemlines went really up, and the shoes had to look nice and work well for dancing. It was the Jazz Age, they had to do the Charleston in these shoes.

During World War II, the war effort meant shoes couldnt be made of rubber or leather, so they made do with cork or wood. This created wedge shoes, still popular today. Particularly interesting is the history of shoe height in the 1950s, when femininity was rising, so were heels. Then when the hippie movement and the feminist movement began, women preferred comfort over conventional beauty and heels plummeted to flats. Disco made shoes rise again, and so on.

Its a cycle, Antonowicz said. Fashion reflects the world.

Other seminars she teaches focus more on clothing, such as on the fashion of American First Ladies or the fashion of the cocktail culture in the 1950s and 1960slook to the AMC show "Mad Men," she suggested, for a taste of that style.

These shows are accurate to a point, she said. Sometimes the colors are a bit different, or the cut is a bit different, however theres usually a reason for that. Downton Abbey is usually right on. Their designers sometimes take a dress from the time that is beyond wear, and add it to a new piece, so it has a bit of integrity. Theyre so talented.

Antonowiczs passion for fashion is sure to enlighten anyone, not just those with a closet bursting at the seams.

People often dont realize what it is all about, but they always ask me to come back, she said. Its a mixture of entertainment and education.

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Lincoln Public Library hosts seminar on the history of shoes - Wicked Local Lincoln