Evening slippers

Unknown

1860–70 · silk · Costume Institute

With the feet secreted beneath the huge hooped skirts of the 1860s, detailed or intricate ornamentation was of little avail on conmemporary ladies' footwear. While simple bow trims were therefore the norm, one does occasionally see exceptions, as exemplified here by the bold and lively decoration of applied ribbon stripes. These eye-catching slippers could not help but to grab one's attention with even the slightest glimpse. A nearly identical pair The Victorian and Albert Museum in London possesses a nearly identical example in blue and white (cat# T.562&A-1913, published in Lucy Pratt, "Shoes"; London: V & A Publications, 1999, pl. 38.) with the blockier heel of the 1850s.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1860–70

Medium

silk

Culture

British

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, 1954