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Brogues, often known as wingtips in the United States, are low-heeled shoes made of heavy leather, originating in Scotland and Ireland as a coarse, usually untanned leather shoe. The term wingtip derives from the toe cap pattern, which forms a W and resembles the profile of spreading bird wings.1 Brogues are considered traditional men's dress shoes, although less formal than the plain or decorated cap-toe Oxford shoe. They are usually laced, although sometimes the design is applied to loafers or to women's shoes. In recent years, it has become popular for women to wear Brogue heels or boots, often with stiletto heels, although sometimes flat. This fashion includes garishly coloured brogue heels in red, silver and other colours.
Brogueing refers to the holes which form the wingtip pattern in the shoes. They originated when Scottish Highlanders had to step in and out of bogs all day and needed a shoe that would allow good drainage. Today brogueing is used to emphasise the seams that define the design of a shoe. This punching occurs in various patterns: full brogues, or wingtips (the term applies strictly only to full brogues), have a toe cap in the W shape, with punched patterns on various sections of the shoe; half brogues have a normal straight edged toe cap and less punching; finally, other terms such as quarter-brogue etc. may be used to describe progressively less brogueing.
Ghillie Brogues, or Ghillies, are a type of shoe with laces along the instep and no tongue, especially used for Scottish country dancing. Although now primarily worn for dancing and social events, ghillies originated as a shoe that would drain water and dry quickly due to the lack of a tongue, and not get stuck in the mud because the laces were above the ankle.
The word brogue is derived from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic word bróg, meaning shoe; the plural is brògan (Scots Gaelic) or "bróga" (Irish). The term brogue survived in American English as the term Brogans in Appalachian and southern United States dialects.2 The word ghillie means comes from gille (Scots Gaelic) (Ir. giolla) meaning a "lad" or a "servant".
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- This page was last modified on 19 October 2008, at 09:03.
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