V55: New “Kensington” 18th Century Leather Shoes – Vote For Your Favorite Color

Hi Ladies! Once again I need your help, this time in deciding on colors for the new leather colonial shoe, “Kensington.”

Kensington is a sturdy 100% leather shoe with a pointed toe, round latchet styling, and French heel.  They are perfect for the 1770s and 80s, and will stand up to field wear while still looking great in town.  The latchets can be fitted with buckles, or turned back and tied with bows, and the quality of finish makes Kensington appropriate for upper classes as well as middling class.

Below are three color choices – Ivory, Black, and Red.  Please tell us how you feel about each, and how likely you are to order your favorite.  Your votes will help me determine which colors to offer when Kensington is ready to be released in a few weeks. 🙂

Thank you again!






24 Comments

    • American Duchess

      February 24, 2012 at 8:54 PM

      Hi Elizabeth – the upper and sole are 100% leather; the lining is man-made. I do this for two reasons – one is to keep the leather upper from stretching out too much and making them unwearable, and the other is to keep from staining your nice silk stockings with leather-juice.

    • American Duchess

      February 24, 2012 at 9:45 PM

      Hi Lydia,
      To answer your questions, I can only get these in "B" width. I will take a photo next to Devonshire when the samples for Kensington arrive here. Devonshire is wider than Kensington – different kind of last – so if you are choosing betwixt the two for broader feet, I would recommend Devonshire.

  • The Dreamstress

    February 24, 2012 at 11:00 PM

    Squee! You changed your comment preferences so I don't have to log into blogger. Yay!

    I like them all, but I'd love to see a brown instead of the black. Or a lighter red.

    And I want to see more pictures, because as soon as you vote on the poll the images disappear 🙁

    • Lauren R

      February 25, 2012 at 8:51 PM

      Leimomi – apologies for the photos. These were from-the-factory, and although they basically describe the colors, the red is really brighter than that. It's dark crimson, so not bright-bright red, more subtle, but rich. I think you will like it.

      Oddly enough, when I polled about preferred colors for 18th c. shoes, brown was really unpopular. For some reason brown was not used much for shoes in the 18th c. Black seemed to be the norm for leather shoes. I'm not sure why this was. Ideas?

    • Tricia

      February 25, 2012 at 11:52 PM

      I look forward to the pre-order; hopefully they will be in red.
      I'm enjoying my silk Devonshire shoes. They came out a beautiful peridot green when I was finished with them. I have worn them with my one professional ladies suit for a meeting and also with my colonial gown. They are a real eye catcher.

    • Lauren R

      February 25, 2012 at 8:43 PM

      Hi Katherine! I remember you ordered Georgies way-back-when and they were too big, right? These should fit you much better. It looks like for the first release we're going to go with black, and try red. The hope is that those two colors will do well and we will be able to get ivory shortly after. I wish we could do all three colors at once, but won't be able to this time

  • Verdaera

    February 25, 2012 at 7:01 AM

    I wasn't able to get the Devvies when they came out, so I'm excited for these in black. I'd pick those over red simply because it goes with my current outfit and I don't really have time to add a new costume to my expansive list!

  • KHerman

    February 25, 2012 at 10:52 AM

    These are so lovely. I like the white best, because then they can become any color. The lines seem a little more graceful than the Devonshire, though both are beautiful.
    Will you ever run any wide sizes again, or will that remain a lucky oops?

    • Lauren R

      February 25, 2012 at 8:44 PM

      Hi KHerman – I agree about the white, and I fully intend to carry Kensington in ivory as soon as we can. I want all three colors available, but it looks like we're going to have to break it up into two orders. I wasn't able to get these in wide sizes this time, though :-

    • Lauren R

      February 25, 2012 at 8:47 PM

      There's just something about red shoes, eh? 🙂 It's interesting – many of you lovely ladies are very crafty with the shoes, and willing to dye them and paint them, but a lot of you are not willing to, and would prefer the shoe black, or red, or whichever color, already made up and not needing additional work. I can relate – the finishes on the leather are soooo lovely, from the manufacturer.

      Hopefully the red I've selected will be the perfect red for you. 🙂 It's a dark crimson – it looks really dark in the photo above, but it's not that dark in real life. Once I get the samples delivered, we'll do some pro photos.

  • ista

    February 26, 2012 at 1:14 AM

    If I were buying them I'd get the ivory cos that's easier to re-colour than black or red. Sadly I have mutantly wide feet (aka EEE width) and I doubt you'll ever have shoes that'll fit me. even the specialty shops for street wear have issues.

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