Evening pumps

Pierre Yantorny

1925–30 · silk, rhinestones · Costume Institute

Pietro Yantorny (1874-1936), the self-proclaimed "most expensive shoemaker in the world", was a consummate craftsman utterly devoted to the art of shoemaking. Yantorny sought to create the most perfectly crafted shoes possible for a select and exclusive clientele of the most perfectly dressed people. While Yantorny's shoes are best know from the surviving examples created for Lydia de Acosta Lydig (1880-1929) in her favored antique velvets and laces, this pair of colonial pumps shows a refreshingly different aspect of the designer's work in the boldly colored and patterned fabric. Yantorny's signature is preserved, however, in the elegant silhouette and distinctive curve of the instep, perfectly harmonized trim, and immaculate craftsmanship.

Artist

Pierre Yantorny

Date

1925–30

Medium

silk, rhinestones

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Edward G. Sparrow, 1969