Venturing outdoors in the eighteenth century could be a dirty
and hazardous enterprise. Well-off women visiting friends or
shopping in town needed protection for their footwear against
the filth of the street and the gutter, and in the event of rain
or snow. Pattens were the usual solution, comprising overshoes
of leather mounted onto an iron ring which raised the wearer a
few inches off the ground, and these were also worn by working
women. They were not always easy to walk in, as Pepys noted in
his diary in 1660: "Called on my wife and took her to Mrs
Pierce's, she in the way being exceedingly troubled with a pair
of new pattens, and I vexed to go so slow". The coloured print
below shows a lady at a ball taking off her protective pattens
as she arrives (see detail). As an alternative to pattens, clogs
could be worn. These were small wooden wedges to fit under the
arch of the shoe with matching straps and flat soles to prevent
the heels digging into soft ground. They were the forerunner of
various more moder