The 1940's Shoes from the Vintage Actress: Off the Stage and Into my Heart

The AMAZING 1940's Actress Shoes: 

How they Marched Off the Stage and Into My Heart

Just LOOK at these vintage beauties! Aren't they ADORABLE? 

Yes, I'll admit - I was a sucker for them immediately myself. Yet another pair of vintage amazingness that sat under the desk in a bag waiting for me to discover them.

These little loves are truly that - VERY LITTLE. Stomping right off the stage and right into my heart I have decided to keep them for my own personal collection of vintage goodies and here's a few reasons why:

1. They are TINY. 

These shoes originated during the 1940's. The gal who had her gams in these must have weighed 90 lbs down to her toes, because they come in a vintage size 4 - which by today's measurements are like a child's size 2 or 3. They truly are tiny, and likely only a small girl could wear them these days. Why would I waste this amazingness on a small girl who loves playing dress up - no disrespect to those little girls, btw. 

Even I, according to mother, at age 1 and 2 would walk up and down the block stealing people's shoes. It was the 1970s. Apparently people had a habit in my neighborhood of having a mat by the back door where they would remove their shoes. 

Yes, I loved shoes even way back then, enough to walk up and down looking for the next neighbor's pair to catch my eye so I could go clamoring down the street and up to mommy to show her my newest pair. 

Either way, this pair of shoes just HAD to be added to my personal collection. Still not convinced? Here's more reasons why:

2. They are "DeLISO DEBS".

Here's some history for those of you who don't know PALTER DELISO. Palter DeLiso started making shoes in the 1920s and rose to fame by introducing the first ever

SLINGBACK OPEN TOED PUMP

during the 1930's. He went on to make shoes for years and at this time had contracted to make his exclusive lines for the shoe manufacturer, Dolcis. Here's a vintage ad from his line of Dolcis shoes during the 1940's:

And finally and most important reason:

3. They Were Made for an Actress

 This particular pair of shoes was stamped on the bottom. I couldn't believe it. I had heard that this would happen in the years gone by, especially for the couture or custom made items such as were made for Hollywood or important business men (they often had their names embroidered on the tags or inner lapels). Either way, they were so CLEARLY stamped, I could make out the name immediately and knew it must have been a FIRECRACKER of a PETITE LADY 

who wore these adorable slingbacks. They were stamped with the infamous name that will forever go down in my mental history from here on in...

GIGI PHANTOM! 

 As you can see in the photo above, one of the shoes was very hard to make out the stamped information. This was, OF COURSE, the first shoe I had picked up to inspect out of the pair. When I picked up that second one though...I knew I was onto something. 

As usual, with something exciting like this, I phone the consignor to get the origin of the vintage item I am gawking over. This particular pair had been handed down over generations from her great aunt who supposedly had been "on the stage". 

I KNEW THEY BELONGED TO AN ACTRESS. I mean, CHECK OUT THAT NAME! RAWR!

I have been so blessed to touch SO MANY vintage clothing and accessories now, that I can spot them from across rooms or through bags and boxes of junk to the one special item that I luckily have the first chance to purchase - such as the case with this amazing pair. 

Sorry, you can't pick these ones up from me. They are going on to be cherished by me.  But, I do have some AMAZING vintage shoes for your wearing pleasure by clicking through my shoe and handbags section of my Etsy shop located HERE. 

You can always SHOP WITH ME, Tweet with me, Pin with me, or Keep Away amazing items with me in the newest shopping app, "Keep". Don't forget to follow me on Google or on Facebook, too! 

Thanks for reading! You can read more about another fabulous pair of my vintage shoes by clicking HERE! 

CHEERS to your next fabulous pair of vintage shoes!