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| Lewis Designs handbag and matching Lewis Designs by Johansen shoes. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
William T. Lewis and Lewis Designs Shoes and Handbags of Tucson, Arizona
In order to clear up the confusion, we decided to return to the other Mr. Lewis and do a deep dive into the newspaper and genealogy archives to which we subscribe, with the goal of writing an article for our website.
Another motivating factor was that The Vintage Purse Museum collection is privately stored in Tucson, Arizona, where Mr. Lewis owned Lewis Salon Shoes from the 1940s until the early 1980s, and designed many of the shoes and handbags sold there. He also had stores in Phoenix, Arizona.
The following is the history of Mr. Lewis and his shoe stores, along with some personal anecdotes kindly shared by his stepdaughter, Shannon Malone. We also reached out to some of Mr. Lewis's nieces, but did not hear back. We will update this post if we do. UPDATE June 11, 2025: A few days after this posted, one of Mr. Lewis's nieces (name withheld for privacy) phoned us and we had a wonderful chat. We've added her memories of him to this article.
"A woman coming in here is pretty apt to find something she can't hardly walk out without." —William Lewis, speaking about his shoe stores, March 30, 1979, the Arizona Daily Star.
03 Aug 1958, Sun Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona) Newspapers.comThe earliest newspaper advertisement we could find for a Tucson shoe establishment operated by William Lewis was from 1935. It was announced that Mr. Lewis would open this store, featuring Mode and Peacock* brand shoes, inside Gus Taylor's (b. Gustave Taylor, 1893-1972) apparel store at 128 E. Congress St. (This location is now a restaurant.) The ad said that Mr. Lewis had been associated with Peacock shoes for the past twelve years. This would mean he had been in the shoe business since 1923, when he was just 15 years old. Corroborating this is a 1979 newspaper article, in which he said that he started selling shoes when he was a student in South Dakota. (*Peacock shoes were made by the Boyd-Welsh shoe company, est. 1915, defunct 1952, of St. Louis, Missouri, a city that was a major hub of US footwear production for about a century.)
In the aforementioned 1979 article, William Lewis said he arrived in Tucson in 1928, when he was suffering from asthma. Moving to drier climates was a popular remedy for respiratory illnesses, and it apparently helped him regain his health. His niece told us that her uncle Bill had such terrible asthma that his mother, Esther, was concerned that he would not live very long if he did not move away from South Dakota and the family farm. The niece recalled that her grandfather Malachi knew someone in Tucson and made arrangements for William to go there.
According to another newspaper reference, he came to Tucson to study law, but instead used the money his father gave him for his education to start a business. We couldn't verify this through documentation, and the niece had not heard this story, but if William Lewis had pursued this vocation, his intent may have been to attend the University of Arizona's College of Law.
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| Lewis Designs tooled leather clutch with convertible chain strap (inside, not pictured). From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
In 1936, it was announced that Mr. Lewis was opening the Mode shoe store at 108 E. Congress St. (Now a record shop.) This article said that he had been in the shoe business in Tucson for eight years, and that he would be assisted by Carl A. Baldwin, who was associated with Peacock Shoes.
Throughout his career, whenever he moved his stores' locations or opened a new one, William Lewis made sure it had the amenities of an upper-crust boutique.
"The Mode shop is modern in design and, being of the parlor type shop, it gives every comfort and convenience for the customer while eliminating the appearance of the conventional type shoe store." —William Lewis, October 4, 1936, the Arizona Daily Star.
William Lewis—wearing his ever-present bowtie—was active in the Tucson community, consistently making sure his name and his stores' names appeared frequently in advertisements, articles, and advertorials throughout his six decades as proprietor of the Mode Shoe Shop and Lewis Salon Shoes. His business also appeared in leather, handbag, and shoe industry publications, and he purchased advertising spots from local radio stations.
In 1941, William Lewis married Lucille Brooks (b. Lucille Boggio in 1908 in Illinois). They were wed in Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico. We don't know exactly why they chose this locale, but the scenic Carlsbad Caverns National Park was a popular wedding and honeymoon destination in the 1940s.
Lucille Lewis had moved to Tucson in the 1930s. The couple may have initially met when they both worked in sales at Jacome's department store. After they married, she worked alongside her husband at his shoe stores. Both Lucille and William had previously been married to other people. Neither had children from their first marriages, and they did not have children together.
Mr. Lewis's niece told us that William and Lucille would visit the Lewis family in South Dakota every other year or so, but the time spent with them would be brief because the weather continued to adversely affect her uncle's health. She shared with us that her uncle and his family remained close, even though Mr. Lewis lived about 1,400 miles away. The Lewis brothers would speak on the phone periodically, and William was always generous with his nieces and nephews, sending a crisp five-dollar bill in an envelope on their birthdays.
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| Lewis Salon Shoes advertisement from the 1958 University of Arizona "Desert" yearbook, screenshot from U of A's online repository. |
In 1946, Mr. Lewis acquired the Reliable Shoe Rebuilding Shop, a shoe repair firm. Two years later, he opened his first Lewis Salon Shoes featuring footwear brands such as Mademoiselle, Johansen, and his own Lewis Designs, along with matching handbags.
It was common for department stores and boutiques to have their labels or imprints placed inside apparel and accessories created by outside manufacturers. The difference with William Lewis is that he designed his own shoes and handbags, and at one point stated that his Lewis Designs' items comprised 90 percent of his inventory. He diligently followed trends in apparel and accessories, and made sure to have a wide variety of shoe sizes in his shops.
"We work closely with fashion editors of the leading magazines to know what trends are appearing in ready-to-wear for the approaching season." —William Lewis, September 16, 1957, the Tucson Citizen.
The Lewis Designs' trademark appeared alongside that of Johansen, Pavilia, Capezio, and possibly other brands. Mr. Lewis would draw the design, have a prototype made, then, per a 1957 article, "if the idea is accepted, the factory takes over production." Johansen/Lewis Designs shoes were made in St. Louis, Missouri, more than likely at the Johansen factory, although we could find no direct documentation. (Pavilia was a Johansen brand, and Capezio was based in New York.)
It is unclear who manufactured the handbags with Lewis Designs' labels, but they were styled to complement the shoes, so it is very possible that Johansen also made the Lewis bags.
Making sure one's handbag perfectly coordinated with one's shoes was a trend for decades. Today it's considered "matchy-matchy," and is generally frowned upon by fashionistas, but many vintage aficionados, including The Vintage Purse Museum, absolutely love a fabulous handbag and heels set.
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| Lewis Designs black and white bag, and its label. This was likely sold to match a pair of spectator-style heels. In 1979, William Lewis accurately predicted that spectator pumps would make a comeback. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
The Lewis Designs trademark for handbags was filed in 1974 and granted in 1979, but the filing document says it was first used in 1952. (We know from the 1948 ad above that it was used even earlier than that.) The Lewis Designs trademark was canceled in 1986.
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Lewis Designs logo, screenshot from the US Patent and Trademark Office database. This font matches the logo and signage of William Lewis's Lewis Salon Shoes stores, as pictured in the 1948 ad below, which also shows how he collaborated with other local businesses to outfit his shop. 08 Mar 1948, Mon Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) Newspapers.com |
He also held a trademark for Debbie Lewis - Young Fashions shoes, which was filed in 1966. The filing document states that this name was not that of a real person. It could be that he chose this brand name based on the word "deb," defined as being short for "debutante," but was sometimes used as a descriptor for fashionable teen or collegiate apparel. (For example, the shoe maker Palter DeLiso had a brand of shoes called "DeLiso Debs.") The Debbie Lewis trademark expired in 1987.
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Debbie Lewis logo, screenshot from the US Patent and Trademark Office database. 12 Mar 1971, Fri Tucson Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) Newspapers.com |
In 1949, William Lewis opened the Phoenix branch of Lewis Salon Shoes at 712 N. Central. (This address number no longer exists, but a building is still there, currently housing a nightclub.) The store was managed by Robert A. MacCaughtry (1909-1985), who had worked for William Lewis at his Mode shoe shop, according to the 1940 US Census, and at the Reliable Boot & Shoe Repair—another of Mr. Lewis's companies—per a 1948 Tucson directory listing.
By 1957, William Lewis had four locations. His corporation, LSS, Inc. (Lewis Salon Shoes) included a Mode shoe store, his original company name. He was simultaneously the director of the National Shoe Retailers' Association. In 1963, he was elected the association's regional vice president. In 1974, he became president of the Arizona Retailers Association.
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| Lewis Designs suede handbag, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| Label inside bag above. |
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| Matching shoes with Lewis Designs and Johansen imprints, from the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
In 1962, while still working in the shoe business, he established Lewtex Oil and Gas in Texas. In the 1990s, he had a company called Lewtex Technological Manufacturing Inc.
The very last appearance we could find of William Lewis on behalf of his shoe stores was an article from 1979. The timeline for his career as told in this article differs a bit from that which The Vintage Purse Museum established through other documentation. At this point he'd been in Tucson for over fifty years, so it's completely understandable if his memory of precise dates may have been off. He—and his bowtie!—are utterly charming in the accompanying photo, which, as we learned from his stepdaughter Shannon Malone, is an accurate depiction. His niece told us that the bowtie—or a regular tie—was standard for his professional attire, but he always dressed casually when visiting the family in South Dakota. Through our conversation with his niece, she confirmed that, no matter his outfit, he was always an interesting and gregarious gentleman.
We could not find an incorporation date for the original incarnation of Lewis Salon Shoes, Inc., but there was a listing for it in the Arizona business entity database in 1982. This is the year that William Lewis sold it to brothers Ralph Clarke and Bruce Clarke of Texas, who had purchased the El Paso-based Guarantee Shoe Co. chain of footwear stores the previous year. (We also found several listings for L.S.S., Inc. but could not verify a connection to Lewis Salon Shoes, Inc.)
Lucille Lewis passed away in 1983 at age 74 after a long illness, which may have been the impetus for Mr. Lewis's retirement from the shoe and handbag business.
1984 was the last time Lewis Salon Shoes's business name was updated on the Arizona business entity database. The most recent ad we could find for Lewis Salon Shoes was from 1984, after it had moved to two mall locations. (Ad directly below.) The Clarke brothers' Guarantee Shoe Co. filed for bankruptcy in Texas in 1985, so it is likely that this is when they closed all of their stores.
William Lewis married Donna Lee Key Malone in 1999. We were extremely fortunate to connect with his stepdaughter, Donna's daughter, Shannon Malone, who shared some fun facts about her stepfather.
Here's what she told us in an email (lightly edited): "I am so excited about your interest in W.T. He was a character for sure. Unfortunately after his death, my mother disposed of all his shoes, samples and designs and I never knew about handbags. I have three anecdotes. I live by these two: 'If you like it get it in every color' and 'Don’t cheap out on shoes, your feet are the foundation of your body.' This last one is by far my personal favorite and just sums up W.T. and makes me smile every single time I tell this. I am sorry if it’s not for polite company... W.T.’s return policy was famous, and it was 'get the (expletive) out of my store.' Thank you for reaching out. W.T. was very special to me and remembering him today has brought a smile to my face."
William Lewis passed away in 2000, survived by his wife, Donna Key Malone Lewis (1948-2005), his stepchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. The Vintage Purse Museum was delighted to learn about this feisty and stylish gentleman, and we're honored to have some of his lovely designs in our collection.
Special thanks to Shannon Malone, and to the niece of William Lewis. Resources used were Newspapers.com and MyHeritage.com, to which we have paid subscriptions, and Google. This article c2025 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Please do not reprint information or photos from this article or others on our website without requesting permission, vintagepursemuseum@gmail.com.
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