Idioms

high-button shoes

high-button shoes

An example of something that is outdated or no longer fashionable. Women commonly wore high-button shoes through the early 20th century. I'm sorry, Grandma, but shag carpeting went out with high-button shoes—we really need to update your place. If skinny jeans ever go the way of high-button shoes, I'll have no pants to wear. Considering that rotary phones have gone the way of high-button shoes, I'm amazed this thing still works!
See also: shoe
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

high-button shoes

A symbol of times past. Through the Victorian era up to the end of the first World War, women wore ankle-high boots that fastened with buttons. When the style lost favor with fashion, the footwear became of a symbol of a time gone by, surving in the scornful expression that an old-fashioned item or idea “went out with high button shoes.” Other such “went out with” objects were banjo picks, horse collars, and buggy whips.
See also: shoe
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price
See also:
References in periodicals archive
At their feet--hers in slippers, his in high-button shoes he
Double Self-Portrait at Ten or Eleven
It's not unusual, the Bags say, for a member of an audience to appear breathless backstage, holding out a pair of high-button shoes, a yellowed lace camisole or an antique straw hat.
Vintage fashion shows benefit Goodwill programs
We are hurtling headlong into a vortex of change at the speed of light; everything you thought you knew is obsolete; whatever devices you used to manage your company or your affairs, however well they have served you in the past (like those untroubled and predictable times of the 50s, 60s, and 70s), are as far out of fashion as high-button shoes. Thus do we make ourselves susceptible to the get-naked-and-go-crazy school of management thinking.
The editor's chair
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.