Shoes

Unknown

1840–49 · cotton, leather · Costume Institute

While fancy evening shoes were saved in abundance, surviving day shoes are relatively scarce. The leather tip and foxing of these tie shoes was a common style for daywear in the 1840s, and renders an otherwise flimsy and thin shoe more serviceable. The self-patterned cotton provides an interesting textural contrast with the leather. Neutral colors such as tan, brown, and the dull mauve seen here, were favored at the time.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1840–49

Medium

cotton, 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 the Jason and Peggy Westerfield Collection, 1969