1970s Clogs: Trend that dances through decades with durability

Do you ever contemplate while wearing an outfit, a shoe, or an accessory, about its roots?

When you turn the pages of history of the clog shoes, you will certainly consider making it part of your wardrobe.

In 1889, the artist Vincent Van Gogh painted the wooden-soled leather clogs, in the southern French town of Saint- Rémy.

To begin with, clogs have been the footwear of?the traditional Dutch dress, worn on special occasions such as historical revisions and during national dances.?The oldest clogs found in the archaeological excavations near Amsterdam are dated 1230 AD (owing to carbon dating), but the footwear is probably even older, perhaps attributable to the Roman soldiers, however less stylish than the Scandinavian people.?

The first shoemaker officially made a pair of clogs in his workshop in 1570, and from there each city has its own shoemaker, equipped to create a pair, in just 3 hours.?Originally they were used as?protective?work shoes?for?the commoners, carpenters, and peasants, in manual and potentially dangerous jobs, and the classic pointed upwards served partially for protection, and a little for the mobility of the foot, inside the wooden shoe.?Clogs, with their wooden heels, started to rise beyond their working class folkloric associations, as they underwent an informal rebranding, as a dancing shoe for everyone.

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Tracing the popular opinions

With the evolution of travel and intercontinental trade in the America of the 70s comes also the avant-garde Scandinavian fashion, characterized by the wooden plinth, that blends very well with the hippie and rebellious culture, that flourished at that time.?Worn by men and women often without socks, they were the most comfortable and wellness-oriented shoe you could want, thanks to the supposed benefits of contact with wood. But, it was perfect as it was unconventional by nature - the wood didn’t fit the foot; instead the bearer’s foot had to adapt.?The rebellious concept of clogs echoes in the many vintage photos that immortalize the classic?fashion of the 70s, with wooden clogs worn, almost submerged by the fabric of large jeans with flare, or long and dark skirts.

By 1929, the beach clogs had evolved into two different styles:

-??????? Flat sandals with thick platform soles (sometimes with a flexible grooved sole) with a strap, or two across,

-??????? High spike heels out of wood.

Though clogs were primarily viewed in the 1920s as more for casual summertime wear, a few designers fabricated them in satin, or embellished the spike-heeled “clogs”, with rhinestones and feathers. Within a few years, these had been renamed mules, and were the footwear of choice for all celebrities.

The outbreak of WWII brought rationing of many materials, but not wood or cork, leading to an explosion of novelty clogs, meant to appeal to women, who still wanted something fun to wear, without using a ration coupon. The fashionable women in Paris and then New York, completed their outfits with sky-high cork or wood clogs and platforms, that became the defining look of the resistance.

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How everyone joined the bandwagon of selling clogs like hot cakes

-??????? The 1970s Swedish pop sensations ABBA were such fervent fans, that they started their own clog line.

-??????? "No clogs, please," stiletto pioneer and clogophobe?Christian Louboutin pleaded,?on the Fat Mascara podcast, in September 2016, just days before the designer Christopher Kane unveiled his groundbreaking spring/summer 2017 collaboration with Crocs: geode-encrusted versions of the rubbery clogs, formerly associated with gardening grandmothers.

-??????? Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri launched the?Diorquake clog, an ode to the 1960s sling-backs, officially galvanising the shoe's 21st-Century high-fashion renaissance.

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Best clog versions for your wardrobe

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-??????? Actress Dakota Johnson wearing Gucci’s Amstel platform clogs

-??????? Hermès Spring/Summer 2021

-??????? Re/Done 70s Classic Clogs

-??????? JW Anderson

-??????? Chloé Autumn/Winter 2024-2025

On a positive note of takeaways

Clogs are the symbol of the Netherlands, along with tulips, which you can add to your souvenir collection to appreciate its history, and curate an appealing bohemian look.

Setting a standard of durability in fashion, clogs may not be one of the fanciest shoe designs, yet they have been uniquely featured on the runway, for almost one hundred years. They never disappeared, and were always ready for another generation to discover them.