Chelsea boots are close-fitting, ankle-high boots with an elastic side panel. They often have a loop or tab of fabric on the back of the boot, enabling the boot to be pulled on. Chelsea boots and some of its variants were considered an iconic element of the 1960s in Britain, particularly the mod scene.
The design is credited to Queen Victoria’s shoemaker Joseph Sparkes Hall. The shoemaker, Joseph Sparkes Hall, claimed that “She (Queen Victoria) walks in them daily and thus gives the strongest proof of the value she attaches to the invention”.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Chelsea boots became popular in the UK – and their association with the King’s Road (a street in Chelsea and Fulham in inner western London) set of Swinging London – worn by everyone from the Rolling Stones to Jean Shrimpton – is believed to explain how the name “Chelsea” became attached to the boot.
