1/6 Indy Customizations: Image Thread

[Rogerbee]

So, in Raiders, his shoes were Red Wings and NOT Alden's! Well, well, that does actually go a long way to showing that the shoes Hasbro did for their figures were fully accurate Red Wings. HT did Alden's. Cool!

 

[Asta]

Or were they?

Despite costumer designer Deborah Nadoolman's plans that Indy wear Red Wings, only a pair of orthopedic boots called Aldens would do.

The boots Indiana Jones wore are Alden 405 Truebalance walking boots made by the Alden Shoe Company. The Massachusettes-based shoe company has been in business since 1884 and the Alden 405, commonly referred to as "the Indy Boot," has been part of their catalog for decades. However, as matter-of-fact as this information is, finding out the exact identity of these boots was not an easy task.

While the hats, jackets and to a lesser degree, the bullwhips, are clearly visible throughout the three movies, Indy's boots aren't as distinctive and, well, they're on his feet under the cuffs of his pants! The hunt for the true identity of the boots started with IndyGear legend Lee Keppler in the years following Raiders of the Lost Ark's 1981 release and from all accounts it wasn't easy. There was no Internet and barely any home video technology.

The costume designer, Nadoolman, had Red Wings as the documented Indy boots and the Red Wings 1905 style work boots look almost identical to Alden 405s, especially in moving film frames before the age of crystal clear DVDs to reference. However IndyGear's Michaelson, through some clever detective work and a lot of phone calls, discovered the identity not of the boot but of the shop where Ford bought his first pair. He and Keppler joined forces and tracked down how the Aldens came to be a part of Indy's gear.

Legend has it that Ford had a preference for the Alden boots because he had worn them while working as a carpenter in Los Angeles in the years before Star Wars and stardom. Ford originally purchased his boots from a local shoe store in Sherman Oaks, California named Frederick's Shoes, run by a German man named Fritz. When the time came to source multiple pairs of the boots for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford insisted the boots be purchased from Fritz's store and the production team honored his request. Fritz sold a number of pairs of boots to the production for use in the film.

When Keppler found Fritz, the story started to unfold. The late Fritz was a very cautious, old world cobbler and professional shoe salesman. He kept all of his records on paper, including a precious and guarded rolodex that contained the names of all his customers, including Harrison Ford. Fritz revealed to Keppler that the boot was indeed an Alden make. Incidentally, IndyGear staff member Sergei had the privilege of seeing Ford's customer card in Fritz's rolodex for a brief moment and learned he wears a size 10 1/2 in the now-famous Alden 405.

https://www.indygear.com/igboots.html

 

[Cap'n Cook]

That?s fascinating. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Ford has small feet for 6 foot 2.

 

[IndianaPaul]

Wow, really cool stuff!

 

[Rogerbee]

Mmm, interesting, maybe Debs needs to do more homework then. The Hasbro's do look like Red Wings though, oh well....

 

[Evil_Ash]

They were definitely Aldens. They were his own personal pair for Raiders weren't they? I remember reading this story on the Indy lounge years ago!

 

[Mr.E]

Yeah, there have been numerous occasions where Nadoolman's statements don't add up though. There's a whole convoluted history to that costume and there were several reasons why she didn't return to do the sequels. They're Aldens and they always have been. The costume sketches by Nadoolman do list them as being Red Wings, but the ones worn by Ford were 405's.

 

[davejames]

They were definitely Aldens. They were his own personal pair for Raiders weren't they? I remember reading this story on the Indy lounge years ago!

Seemed like that probably happened a lot back in the day. The Nikes that Marty wore in BTTF were the same shoes that Michael J Fox already happened to be wearing as well, since they didn't have time to find anything better.

 

[Wor-Gar]

There's a whole convoluted history to that costume and there were several reasons why she didn't return to do the sequels.

What was the problem? I always wondered what happened to her and why there's so much inconsistency in the Raiders outfit history.

 

[Rogerbee]

Well, she married John Landis, that much I do know, I just assumed she continued in her job.

 

[bmarz1000]

Her memory is flawed. You’ll notice practically every large project she ever worked on (besides Raiders) had Landis at the helm. I had the pleasure of being fitted for Alden’s by Fritz himself and Harrison Ford definitely wore the Alden 405’s.

 

[Rogerbee]

Gotcha,

I think that's cleared that up.

 

[elvis1976]

Hey guys, i'm in search of an indy web belt and sovereign jacket.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Sovereign! Nice! I love how the classics are coming back.

 

[Mr.E]

The whole (or some of) history is available on Indygear.com, however I do remember she ended up delegating a lot of the costume work instead of handling it directly and apparently Spielberg wasn't a fan of that. Oh, and the whole Twilight Zone incident might've had something to do with it as well; probably strained the relationship between Steve and Landis.

 

[Marcelo.br]

Giving some love to the MJ Choi sculpt... Not perfect, but has some great features!

Enviado desde mi VOG-L29 mediante Tapatalk

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Great photos Marcelo.br!


Waiting on the sculpt. And doggiedocs boots and gun.

 

[Rogerbee]

Looking good! That's a nicely tailored shirt and pants.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Thanks!

Here?s a better photo I think:



(Waiting on my display cabinet!)