A derby ( , ; also called gibson) is a style of boot or

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...

characterized by quarters, with shoelace eyelets, that are sewn on top of the vamp.Definition of Derby
OxfordDictionaries.com This construction method, also known as "open lacing", contrasts with that of the Oxford shoe. In

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

the derby shoe may be referred to as a ' blucher', although technically the blucher is a different design of shoe where only eyelet tabs (not larger quarters) are sewn onto a single-piece vamp. In modern colloquial English the derby shoe may be referred to as 'bucks' when the upper is made of buckskin. "White bucks", or light-colored suede or buckskin (or nubuck) derby shoes, usually with a red sole, were long popular among the students and graduates of

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

colleges. By translation, these shoes also became associated with elite law firms in cities of the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

, especially

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, giving rise to the name "

white-shoe firm In the United States, "white-shoe firm" is a term used to describe prestigious professional services firms that have been traditionally associated with the upper-class elite who graduated from Ivy League colleges. The term comes from white buckski ...

" used to describe these prestigious legal institutions. The derby became a popular sporting and hunting boot in the 1850s. By the turn of the

20th century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

the derby had become appropriate for wear in town.Flusser, Alan. ''Dressing the Man''

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 2002, pg 195. Derbybogen und -riegel

References

Shoes {{shoe-stub

See also

References