A QUICKIE LOOK IN MY CLOSET
My Family’s Obsession with Buster Brown Shoes
Saddle Shoes & Maryjanes reigned supreme
A friend of mine once circulated this question on Facebook:
“Does anyone remember getting a new pair of shoes for the first day of school?”
My response: “Hell, yeah! I do!!”
She came to the right person. My father (David Kogen) was an executive with Brown Shoe Company for eons. They even named a shoe after him called “The Kogey.”
This is a photo of my father in his Empire State Building office in New York City. From the colorful array of shoes and sandals, we can surmise that this was a Spring/Summer line.
Turns out, when I hit first grade, I was “model size,” which was lay term for “shoe sample size.” Can you believe??? I was thrilled. My wardrobe of shoes suddenly expanded to a preposterous amount of shoes for any 7-year-old. The bounty, that I carefully lined up on the floor of my closet, included:
- Red pigskin loafers
- Green pigskin loafers
- Brown leather loafers with both a kilt on the vamp
- And another pair of brown loafers with a buckle on the vamp
- Black patent-leather Maryjanes
- White patent-leather Maryjanes
- Blue leather Maryjanes
- Black and white saddle shoes
- Brown and white saddle shoes
Raise your hand if you remember this cutie T-strap sandal for summer. I had it in RED, BLUE, and NATURAL LEATHER.
Buster Brown Shoes reigned supreme in my childhood. Besides the Empire State Building, my father had an office at the house. Open the door, and WHOA!! There was his collection of Buster Brown lamps, old cartoons, watches, prints, rings, rugs, buttons, advertisements, posters, and more. It completely wow-ed my friends. Inevitably, they wanted to try on the rings and watches.
One summer night during a vacation in New England, my family and some friends were sitting on the beach around a campfire. My brother, sister and I were coaxed by our parents into singing the Buster Brown jingle, which we had memorized because, hey, it was our bread and butter. To sing along to this kitschy, catchy song, click here.
There are fashion reports galore on how people can predict, with a striking 90% accuracy, personality traits of strangers based solely on their shoes. Studies find that those who wear certain styles are more introverted or extroverted, emotionally stable, shlumpy, or fashionista. They can also reveal the owner's age, gender, and social status.
Summary: It's all about the shoes.
My father instilled in me a real penchant for shoes. God forbid, there were any scuffs or worn-down heels. (We kept the local shoemaker busy.)
So all those “sample pairs” lying on the floor in my closet? Was I making a statement at age 7? Could a trained eye tell the difference whether my patent leather shoes were polished with Vaseline and the leather ones with Kiwi Shoe Polish? Is there a personality split between the black-and-white saddle shoes and the brown-and-white?
Thus, it is no wonder that this daughter of a man who represented, and revered, The Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri, believed heart and sole, in the phrase:
"You can always tell a person by the shoes they wear."
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