A Beatle boot or Cuban boot[1] is a style of boot that has been worn since the late 1950s but made popular by the English rock group the Beatles in the 1960s. The boots are a variant of the Chelsea boot: they are tight-fitting, Cuban-heeled, ankle-high boots with a sharp pointed toe. The style can feature either elastic or zipped sides.[2]
Beatle boots saw the reintroduction of high-heeled footwear for men.[3]
History
edit
Beatle boots are a direct descendant of the Chelsea boot, but have an even more pointed toe—compare the slightly earlier winklepickers—and a centre seam stitch running from ankle to toe, and the flamenco boot, from which its Cuban heel was derived. Beatle boots originated in 1958, but in October 1961 English musicians John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney saw Chelsea boots while in Hamburg, being worn by a London band, and then went to the London footwear company Anello & Davide to commission four pairs (with the addition of Cuban heels) for the Beatles, to complement their new suit image upon their return from Hamburg.[4]
Beatle boots were very popular with rock bands and artists during the late 1950s, but started to decline during the late 1960s. They were worn by subcultures such as Teddy Boys, beatniks, rockers and psyches etc. The boots saw a surge of popularity during the punk movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s but again started to decline throughout the 1990s.[citation needed] During the late 2000s and early 2010s the boots have seen a steady surge in popularity.
Notable wearers
editNon-fictional
edit- The Beatles
- Carl Barât[5]
- Michael Jackson
- The Dave Clark Five
- The Monkees
- Elvis Presley
- Johnny Cash
- Chuck Berry
- Little Richard
- Bill Haley
- Eddie Cochran
- The Who
- James Brown
- Roy Orbison
- Jimi Hendrix
- Alice Cooper
- The Dandy Warhols
- The Brian Jonestown massacre
- Claude François
- Neil Tennant
- The Doors
- MC5
- The Velvet Underground
- The Grateful Dead
- The Kinks
- The Zombies
- The Sonics
- The Yardbirds
- The Byrds
- The Beach Boys
- Steve Lukather
- Ryan Ross
- Daedalus Howell
- Iggy Pop
- David Bowie
- KISS
- Queen
- Jef Aerosol
- Marc Zermati
- The Pretty Things
- Peter Gunn of The Inmates
- The Kills
- The Hellacopters
- Russell Brand
- Bob Dylan[6]
- The Gruesomes[7]
- The Rolling Stones[8]
- Alex Turner[9]
- Richey Edwards
- Andy Warhol[10]
- Kanye West[11]
Fictional
edit- Riff Raff from the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show[12]
- Austin Powers, from the Austin Powers series[13]
- Ned Flanders, from The Simpsons[14]
- Sid from Hey Arnold![15]
- Starfleet officers in Star Trek: The Original Series[16]
- Eddie Dean from Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "::THE LOOK – adventures in rock and pop fashion:: » The Baba boot: 60s pop footwear of choice". Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ Bassett McCleary, John (2004). Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s. Ten Speed Press. p. 44. ISBN 1-58008-547-4.
- ^ Kippen, Cameron. "Beatle Boots". The History of Boots. Department of Podiatry. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
The Beatle Boot saw the reintroduction of heels for men.
- ^ Bramwell, Tony (2004). Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles. Robson. p. 34. ISBN 0-312-33043-X.
- ^ Lawrence, Helen (18 April 2005). "Carl Barât". Popstar Feets. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
- ^ "Bob dylan". The Independent. 17 April 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 3 February 2008. [permanent dead link]
- ^ Lejtenyi, Patrick (June 2000). "Back from the Grave". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
...and the Beatle boots...
- ^ Bone, Martyn (2002). "The Rolling Stones". St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
- ^ Turner, Adam (28 January 2019). "11 Best Chelsea boots for men 2019". Standard Evening. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ "Warhol's foot fetish". Brisbane Times. The Daily Telegraph. 19 November 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
- ^ Watamanuk, Tyler (5 August 2020). "The Future of the Chelsea Boot Has Arrived". GQ. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- ^ "Riff Raff: Costume List".
- ^ Myers, Mike (17 July 1996). "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery script".
We start on a pair of BEATLE BOOTS...
- ^ ""Treehouse of Horror X"".
I've resisted these for thirty-five years. Why did I wear them today?
- ^ Alexander, Philip (8 November 2017). "20 Dark Secrets About Hey Arnold You Really Don't Want To Know". The Gamer.
#11 – 'Down And Out', One night Sid is ambushed by the same assailants, who end up stealing his beloved beatle boots.
- ^ "Costuming TOS Boots". The Trek BBS. 17 February 2014.