PATTENS
I’m starting work on a series of articles for my Regency Writer’s Group (RWA’s Beau Monde 
chapter) and I’ve been reviewing my archives and pictures for inspiration. One of the cooler items of clothing that I’ve rarely (if ever) seen featured in a book are pattens.
They were usually comprised of a wooden platform sitting atop two metal rings, with a leather sandal or mule for the shod foot to
rest in (think about trying to balance on this while walking across wet cobbles!). But simple platforms and “geta-type” clogs existed, too (not surprising considering the era’s obsession with all things Asian). The whole point of the patten is to help keep the feet dry, and/or to keep the shoes clean. An important and hard to achieve goal when ladies’ shoes were barely more solid than a modern ballet slipper and the streets were a morass of dirt, mud, animal droppings, human excrement, and 
water (it rains a LOT in England).
So here are a series of pattens dating from the 1730s (green silk), the 1790s (little white bow) and two pair of “carriage clogs” from the 1820s.
chapter) and I’ve been reviewing my archives and pictures for inspiration. One of the cooler items of clothing that I’ve rarely (if ever) seen featured in a book are pattens.They were usually comprised of a wooden platform sitting atop two metal rings, with a leather sandal or mule for the shod foot to
rest in (think about trying to balance on this while walking across wet cobbles!). But simple platforms and “geta-type” clogs existed, too (not surprising considering the era’s obsession with all things Asian). The whole point of the patten is to help keep the feet dry, and/or to keep the shoes clean. An important and hard to achieve goal when ladies’ shoes were barely more solid than a modern ballet slipper and the streets were a morass of dirt, mud, animal droppings, human excrement, and 
water (it rains a LOT in England).So here are a series of pattens dating from the 1730s (green silk), the 1790s (little white bow) and two pair of “carriage clogs” from the 1820s.
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