1980s | Gloria McBreen

Day 3 #100DaysOfOldDays

It doesn’t always take a photo to remind me of the past. Certain images pop into my head at the slightest prompt. I’m sure everyone is the same.

I remember a lot of shoes I had. As clear as if I wore them yesterday.

The oldest shoe memory I have is of my little white leather T-bar shoes. And the whitener my mam used to put on them. I would have been just a toddler, but I remember them so well. They’ve never gone out of fashion. It’s not that long ago since I bought a pair for Little Miss Ten, and recently I saw a little girl wearing a pink pair. So cute!

My first communion shoes were also T-bar; black patent. That was in 1974. I wasn’t too happy with them because all the other girls wore white shoes.

The day my mam bought me my first pair of clunky clogs was the same day I got my first gypsy skirt. My clogs were brown and my skirt was red with flowers dotted all over it. Well, I thought I was the bees knees clunking around in my lovely new clogs. Definitely my favourite shoe memory!

I desperately wanted a pair of Scholls after that but Mam said I’d likely break my neck in them, so I gave up asking.

In the early 80’s I had a pair of moccasins. They were light brown. I don’t remember loving them…I only had them because they were in fashion.

Then I wore loafers. They were square and heavy; like what the boys wore. They weren’t noisy enough for the extrovert 14-year-old me, because I had metals tips/taps fitted to the soles of them. My parents had no problem with this because the tips saved the soles. Less frequent trips to the cobbler.

As I got older I got more daring. Stilettos! I had red ones, blue ones, white ones, black ones, pink ones. I even remember dying white shoes because I couldn’t always afford a new pair.

My favourite shoes from the 90’s are my red platforms. I bought them to wear to my friend Roisin’s wedding. Not with the black tights I have to add. I took this photo recently when I came across the shoes during a clear out!