|
When the American GI’s came to Britain in preparation for the D-Day Landings in 1944 they bought with them mountains of goodies that austere Britain had not seen for years. The German attempt to put a blockade on supplies getting across the Atlantic to the UK nearly succeeded in preceding years and the protracted Battle of the Atlantic which is so overlooked in favour of more glamorous land and air battles was the one battle that Churchill wrote in his diaries had kept him awake at nights. The Yanks arrived with better equipment, high moral and boxes of chocolates and ladies stockings. With many British servicemen scattered around the globe and fighting wars in North Africa to the Far East there was a lot of jealousy and much of it justified. One of the better pieces of equipment was the US Army issue boots which at least managed to cover the ankles and lace up two or three inches above. The British Army boot was notoriously heavy and when new quite unyielding causing all sorts of foot problems. The American boot for hot climate warfare had a crepe sole which made it very quiet and so unlike the steel toe-capped clunk of the British counterpart. It wasn’t long before someone termed the phrase brothel creepers as the silent nature of the shoe meant the American GI could not easily be heard as he walked in or out of the many unofficial brothels that existed in wartime Britain. After the war these boots had become part of men’s fashion and were even produced in the UK although more often called desert boots. The crepe soles got thicker with the fifties advent of the Teddy boys with their slicked back long hair and three-quarter length jackets, drainpipe trousers and string ties. The Teddy boys were deemed the lowest of the low by all the old duffers who had returned from the war and yet if you look at pictures of them now they look quite harmless and not at all outrageous. This is one of those fashions that has never really gone away but has merely gone through highs and lows in popularity. With shoe design so exciting and diverse at present there is a whole range of brothel creepers in every imaginable colour and thickness of sole. The really thick crepe soled ones look great on girls and boys and can be worn with any style of clothing. Some big name pop stars have seemingly never worn anything else and they are one of the few items that can be said to be constantly hip and always comfortable. When you revisit films like Grease and watch all the men in their creepers you can almost feel the need to get up and dance. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers may have had their steel heeled and toecaps for brilliant tap dancing sequences but for doing the Twist or the Jive there is only one type of shoe that will do. Take a look at brothel creepers at http://www.creepers.uk.com/
Related Articles -
brothel, creepers,
| 
