Spats, a shortening
of spatterdashes, or spatter guards are a type of classic footwear
accessory for outdoor wear, covering the instep and the ankle. Spats
are distinct from gaiters, which are garments worn over the lower
trouser leg as well as the shoe.
Spats were primarily
worn by men, and less commonly by women, in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. They fell out of frequent use during the 1920s. Made
of white cloth, grey or brown felt material, spats buttoned around
the ankle. Their intended practical purpose was to protect shoes and
socks from mud or rain but this footwear also served as a feature of
stylish dress in accordance with the fashions of the period.
Increased
informality may have been the primary reason for the decline in the
wearing of spats. In 1913, friends scrambled to help Griffith Taylor
find spats and a top hat to receive the King's Polar Medal from King
George V. In 1923 King George V opened the Chelsea Flower Show, an
important event in the London Season, wearing a frock coat, gray top
hat and spats. By 1926 the King shocked the public by wearing a black
morning coat instead of a frock coat (a small but significant
change). This arguably helped speed the Frock coat's demise (although
it was still being worn on the eve of the Second World War). Spats
were another clothing accessory left off by the King in 1926.
Interestingly it is said that the moment this was observed and
commented on by the spectators it produced an immediate reaction; the
ground beneath the bushes was littered with discarded spats.
From New York in
1936, the Associated Press observed that "in recent years
well-dressed men have been discarding spats because they have become
the property of the rank and file." A revival of high-top shoes
with cloth uppers was forecast to replace them.
The third reason is
probably the most significant, and the most prosaic—once western
city streets became cleaner; due to the replacement of horses by cars
and the use of asphalt and concrete—there simply was much less
filth about and consequently much less need for "spatterdashes".
Although some elderly men continued to wear them into the 1950s as
part of their business garb, since the Second World War the wearing
of Spats seems to have been confined to places like the Royal
Enclosure at Ascot or very fancy private weddings.
The wearing of spats
is often used as symbolic shorthand to represent wealth,
eccentricity, or both. In some cases, these depictions occur long
after spats ceased to be a normal part of everyday menswear but those
from before the 1950s are usually making an allusion to "ordinary"
upper-class standards of deportment and class. An example of this is
Irving Berlin's song "Puttin' on the Ritz", which mentions
spats along with a variety of other elements of formal clothing that
were common when it was written.
The wearing of spats
by fictional characters such as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, P.
G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster, Lord Peter Wimsey and Jean de
Brunhoff's Babar the Elephant for example is mostly intended to
underline the conventional nature of the characters involved. They
are elegantly turned-out prosperous gentlemen of the period; it would
be odd if they did not wear spats.
Rich Uncle
Pennybags, the iconic man from the Monopoly board game, and Walt
Disney's Scrooge McDuck are slightly more satirical, alluding to
someone undeniably adept but possibly a bit stuck in the past. This
is very similar to the obsessed scientist or absent-minded professor.
In a similar vein,
in the film Some Like It Hot (made in the 1950s but set in the
1920s), the mob boss is called "Spats" Colombo, because he
regularly wears spats, thus providing an ironic contrast between his
aspirational gentility and his actual thuggish behavior. Similarly
The Penguin from Batman is drawn wearing spats along with a suit with
tails and in Who Framed Roger Rabbit Toon Patrol the chief weasel
Smart Ass, also wears spats (probably a direct allusion to Spats
Colombo).
Spats seem
inappropriate on these creatures because they patently lack the
genteel qualities that the presence of spats suggests. Together with
white gloves and a monocle, spats are part of the symbolic shorthand
to represent wealth, eccentricity, or both.
This is connected
with the wearing of spats as a symbol of a drop in class. Here a man
is trying to retain status in the face of declining circumstances;
Charlie Chaplin's "little tramp" is an example of this as
are several of W. C. Fields's characters, Burlington Bertie and
Bustopher Jones from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S.
Eliot.
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