Shoes

Unknown

1730–55 · silk, metal · Costume Institute

This pair of simple but elegant latchet shoes exhibits all the classic features from the second quarter of the 18th century, beautifully crafted and extremely well preserved. The favored trim of a wide band of metallic lace up the center front and often up the center back came into style in the last decades of the 1600s and persisted until around 1750. Also of note is the dog-leg (stepped) side seam, a feature which developed as latchets widened to support increasingly large buckles in first half of the century, and which was retained until about 1770. The white rand (strip of leather around the sole edge of the vamp) is a conspicuous feature of quality women's shoes beginning in the 17th century and dying out in the 1760s.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1730–55

Medium

silk, metal

Culture

probably British

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Clarence R. Hyde, 1928