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.