Go-go boot
{{short description|Style of footwear}}
{{For|the album|Go-Go Boots (album){{!}}Go-Go Boots (album)}}
File:Go-go boots by Andre Courreges, 1965.jpg
File:Höga, vita damstövlar, 1970-tal - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0034897.jpg
Go-go boots are a low-heeled style of women's fashion boot first introduced in the mid-1960s. The original go-go boots, as defined by André Courrèges in 1964, were white, low-heeled, and mid-calf in height,{{cite book|last1=O'Keeffe|first1=Linda|title=Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More|date=2014|publisher=Workman Publishing |isbn=978-0761173434 |pages=338–339 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsBCn7K-7tcC&pg=PA338|chapter=The Shoe that left an Imprint: The Go-Go Boot}} a specific style which is sometimes called the Courrèges boot.{{cite book |last1=Cumming |first1=Valerie |last2=Cunnington |first2=C.W. |last3=Cunnington |first3=P.E. |title=The dictionary of fashion history |date=2010 |publisher=Berg |location=Oxford |isbn=9781847887382 |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glBf_El4Qd4C&pg=PT108}}{{cite book |last1=O'Hara |first1=Georgina |title=The encyclopaedia of fashion |date=1986 |publisher=H.N. Abrams |location=New York |isbn=9780810908826 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00ohar/page/79 79] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00ohar/page/79 }} Since then, the term go-go boot has come to include the knee-high, square-toed boots with block heels that were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s; as well as a number of variations including kitten heeled versions and colours other than white.{{cite book |last1=Stalder |first1=Erika |title=Fashion 101: a crash course in clothing |date=2008 |publisher=Zest Books |location=San Francisco, CA |isbn=9780547946931 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNxhd1Z7n1EC&pg=PA89}}{{cite book |last1=Bleikorn |first1=Samantha |title=The Mini-Mod Sixties Book |date=2002 |publisher=Last Gasp |location=San Francisco, CA |isbn=9780867196429 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6nW_XKgbSJIC&pg=PT78}}
Etymology
The term go-go is derived from the French expression à gogo, meaning "in abundance, galore",{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gogo |title=gogo |publisher=Merriam-Webster |date=2007-04-25 |access-date=2009-12-06}} which is in turn derived from the ancient French word la gogue for "joy, happiness".Le Petit Robert: GOGO (À), 1440; de l'a. fr. gogue "réjouissance" The term "go-go" has also been explained as a 1964 back-formation of the 1962 slang term "go", meaning something that was "all the rage"; the term "go-go dancer" first appeared in print in 1965.{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=go-go |title=Online Etymology Dictionary: go-go |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2009-12-06}} The go-go boot is presumed to have been named after the dance style.{{cite book |last1=Pedersen |first1=Stephanie |title=Shoes : what every woman should know|date=2005|publisher=David and Charles |location=Newton Abbot |isbn=9780715322345 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gv0_DQWfwGwC&pg=PA80}}
1960s
Fashion boots were revived in the early 1960s by designers including Beth Levine, although at first they featured fashionable high heels such as the stiletto and kitten heels.{{cite web |title=Beth Levine. Evening boot, c.1962 |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/157034 |website=The Collection Online |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=29 January 2015}} Golo is probably best recognized for the invention of the go-go boot in 1964 Nostalgia in Vogue by Eve MacSweeny, 2000 which was proudly worn by Barbra Streisand and photographed by Richard Avedon in the August 1965 issue of Vogue. The earliest go-go boots were mid-calf, white and flat-heeled, as seen in the work of the designer André Courrèges, who is sometimes credited with creating the style.{{cite web |url=http://www.centuryinshoes.com/decades/1960/1960_02.html |title=Solemates: A Century in Shoes: 1960 |publisher=Centuryinshoes.com |access-date=2015-01-29}} The simple minimalism of the Courrèges boot was easily and widely reproduced for the mass market. Courrèges boots provided the foundation for the development of the go-go boot, which increasingly came higher up the leg and was made in alternative colours. While remaining low-ish, the heel also became higher and chunkier. The earliest Courrèges boots were made of leather, such as kidskin or patent leather, but many of the subsequent versions and copies were made in PVC, vinyl, and other plastics.
In 1966, the song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" was released and performed by a go-go boot wearing Nancy Sinatra, who is credited with further popularising the boot. Tim Gunn suggests that Sinatra helped establish the boot as "a symbol of female power".{{cite book |last1=Gunn |first1=Tim |last2=Calhoun |first2=Ada |title=Tim Gunn's fashion bible : the fascinating history of everything in your closet |date=2012 |publisher=Gallery Books |location=New York |isbn=9781451643862 |page=[https://archive.org/details/timgunnsfashionb0000gunn/page/199 199] |edition=1st Gallery Books hardcover |url=https://archive.org/details/timgunnsfashionb0000gunn|url-access=registration }} Female dancers on the television shows Hullabaloo and Shindig! also wore the short, white boots.{{cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=Susan J.|editor1-last=Forman-Brunell |editor1-first=Miriam |editor2-last=Paris |editor2-first=Leslie |title=The Girls' History and Culture Reader; The Twentieth Century. |date=2010 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |isbn=9780252077685 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2A93c_JS6sQC&pg=PA277|chapter=Why the Shirelles Mattered}} This led to the boots sometimes being called "hullabaloo boots," as in an advertisement run in American newspapers in January 1966 for hullabaloo boots with "kooky heels and zipper backs" for the "Go-Go Getter".{{cite news|title=Marshmallow Leather-Like Hullabaloo Boots |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19660118&id=ohwrAAAAIBAJ&pg=3400,2117485 |access-date=29 January 2015 |work=Reading Eagle|date=18 January 1966}}
Post-1960s
File:1990s Revival Go-go Boots.jpg
In the mid-1990s, as part of a general revival of 1960s fashions, go-go boots came back into style.{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171386/Fashions-Year-In-Review-1995 |title=Fashions: Year In Review 1995 |access-date=March 17, 2015}}
In October 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis drew media attention for wearing footwear that resembled white go-go boots while touring areas of Florida devastated by Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/arts/television/late-night-ron-desantis-boots.html|title=Late Night Rips Into Ron DeSantis for His 'Go-Go' Boots|quote=“You’re not allowed to pass a ‘Don’t say gay’ bill then show up in public dressed like Nancy Sinatra,” Jimmy Kimmel said.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 6, 2022|accessdate=14 March 2024}}
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See also
References
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External links
{{wiktionary inline|go-go}}
{{commons category|Go-go boots}}
{{Portal|Fashion}}
{{Footwear}}