Model No. 434

Steven Arpad|Delman

1939 · leather · Costume Institute

Famed manufacturer Herman Delman hired many of the most talented and creative designers of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, including Roger Vivier, to create styles for his line of high-end women's shoes. The design of this unusual pair of Delman evening pumps incorporates Japanese and South Asian influences to whimsical yet superbly chic effect. Although uncredited, the idiosyncratic design can be traced with some certainty to Steven Arpad, as a sketch of an extremely similar model from 1939 survives in the Arpad archives.

Artist

Steven Arpad|Delman

Date

1939

Medium

leather

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Herman Delman, 1955