I. Miller Shoes | Women's Footwear in America

The Slingback.

May 17, 2016 § 1 Comment

I. Miller Shoe, Footwear News, January 14, 1955.

André Perugia, 1933

HERMÈS, 2015.

New York Times, April 17th, 1955

Ben Benjamin Appointed By United States Secretary Of Labor As Special Employer Representative To Meeting In San Juan, Puerto Rico.

March 7, 2015 § Leave a comment

A year into this blog and I’m still searching for the year that my grandfather went to Puerto Rico. I found another news clipping recently, but again with no date. My guess is sometime in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. He bought his house in Florida in 1957 and retired from I. Miller shoes sometime after 1955…back to the library.

Heels Are In The Open! | Boot And Shoe Recorder, December 1, 1962.

January 20, 2015 § Leave a comment

Manual S. Gutierrez Inventor | Detachable Shoe Heel 1930.

January 2, 2015 § 2 Comments

While doing research on shoes from the 1930s, I stumbled upon this shoe patent for a detachable heel by Inventor Manual S. Gutierrez. It immediately caught my attention because recently two of my favorite fashion history blogs, The Historialist and Jonathan Walford’s Blog, had related posts on interchangeable heels. What I find interesting is that this patent precedes any of the shoes mentioned in their posts. When I think of the Detachable Heel the Famous I. Miller ad from 1954 comes to mind. It never really seemed like a good idea to me, but the novelty is definitely appealing. As Jonathan Walford mentions in his blog the design is still being reinvented. I would love to know more about Manual S. Gutierrez so stay tuned. I couldn’t find anything when I did a search, but he must exist somewhere.

Source: The Historialist.

More About My Grandfather Ben Benjamin and I. Miller

July 8, 2014 § 2 Comments

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the library these days looking through The Boot and Shoe Recorder magazines from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I’m hoping to match the dates to events in my grandfather, Ben Benjamin’s shoe career. Today I found a notice in the trade magazine from June 15th, 1952 mentioning his new position as the General Manager of I. Miller Shoes.