The wonderful Chelsea boot, staple of wardrobes for everyone from stable hands to city bankers, is testament to the ‘simple is best mantra’. Simply an ankle high boot with elastic side panels. It really is a design classic.
The invention of the Chelsea boot is credited to none other than Queen Victorias very own shoe makers Joseph Sparkes Hall. In 1837 he came up with his ‘Patent Elastic Ankle Boots’ for the Queen. These can be seen in the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in Australia, they really don’t look anything like what we would regard as a Chelsea boot today, but we all have to start somewhere.
The key facilitator for the development of the boot was Charles Goodyear’s vulcanised rubber, the development of which led to the invention of elastic. Being a bright spark, A lightbulb popped on over Mr Sparkes head, he twigged that he could dispense with laces by using this new fangled elastic and keep an elegant shape to the boot. They caught on as they were a damn sight easier to get on and off than the majority of fiddly laced boots. They became quite the thing in the late 19th Century.
20th Century Mods give it a name
The swinging sixties, London, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Carnaby Street, all of that multicoloured free loving jiggling about needed comfortable footwear. As most of the people were stoned most of the time they avoided life challenges, things like shoelaces were just a no-no.
This is the point where the boots are believed to have got the ‘Chelsea’ part of their name. The King’s Road (in Chelsea) was a magnet for the stoned and paisley clad types, and presumably they started calling them Chelsea Boots. Or it could have been an enterprising shopkeeper. Whoever it was, the name stuck.
21st Century Icon
Today you can get Chelsea boots from the likes of RM Williams, delivering a perfect iteration of the chelsea boot as a durable, stylish and versatile piece of footwear (that’s a pair of theirs in the pic at the top of the page). If you want something more British then Grenson do a triple welted pair, the Christopher, that are stunning. Mind you they should be for over £400, but then Grenson are on something of a roll at the moment. Their designs are really pushing the envelope, and they are really having some fun pushing the boundaries. Barbour can be relied on to do the classics well, and the really deliver with their Farsley range, available in a stack of colours and great value at £125.
Chelsea, Rigger or Jodhpur Boot?
You can get chelsea boots with steel toecaps, that are tagged as ‘Rigger Boots’ for under £50 from Screwfix. If you need to ride your horse and muck out then you have to call them jodhpur boots. Whatever you call them, be thankful to Mr Goodyear and Mr Sparkes, and Queen Victoria I guess…
