WEARING WELL
Stories of the clothes we love BROGUES
“Those perforated holes across the toe were for draining bog water”
My affinity with brogues happened quite literally by accident. While I was tackling a pastel interpretation of a fruit bowl in an art class fifteen years ago, trying to get the shading on an orange just right, I felt a twinge in my foot. Three days later a nurse told me that I’d trapped a nerve. However, despite my hobbling, it wasn’t x-rayed for another two months. I had actually broken my metatarsal. The break had healed on its own, but badly, meaning that my beloved and fairly extensive high heel collection was put out to pasture.
I knew that hanging up my heels was the right thing to do, but my chunky platforms and stilettos – and the dresses that went with them – felt like a part of my identity. My 1950s style – which included pencil skirts, halter dresses and flared coats – just didn’t feel the same with flat shoes. And without this uniform that I’d created for myself, I didn’t feel the same for a long time after my injury. So, it’s ironic that what helped me the most was an item that felt a lot like part of a uniform: brogues.
Although they’re commonly seen in an office, brogues have had their own reinvention since they were first designed. They were originally made to be worn outdoors by 19th-century farmers across Scotland and Ireland. Those instantly recognisable perforated holes across the toe – the ‘brogueing’ that gives the shoes their name – weren’t just decoration, they were for draining bog water.
The shoe’s working class status had a transformation in the 1920s, when they became a popular dance shoe and, by the 1930s, brogueing was becoming a common adornment to women’s shoes, on heeled pumps before flats became more fashionable with women. Fast forward to 1957 where the brogue had its own iconic moment when Elvis Presley wore a black and white pair in the then cult film Jailhouse Rock.
A shoe that’s had more than one fashion makeover was more fitting for my own style reinvention than I had realised. Switch up the colours and fabrics and the brogue feels modern and fun without ever straying from their classic design. I’ve got my eye on a hot pink pair from fellow flat shoe lovers Rogue Matilda, while I’m an admirer of Embassy’s unique patterns – buying brogues offers an excellent opportunity to choose British brands, and designers that prioritise craft and quality materials. While I occasionally miss my stride in a pair of high heels, brogues helped me discover my style – and myself – again.