Shoes

Charles Jourdan|House of Charles Jourdan

1965 · leather, plastic · Costume Institute

In 1919, Charles Jourdan founded his shoe business in Romans, France, which he would gradually build into a premiere French luxury shoe manufacturer of both Jourdan designs and those of numerous other top designers, including Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin. After opening a Paris boutique in 1957, Jourdan reached the height of his success in the 1960s, when he became particularly known for offering a limited number or models in an extensive range of colors. This pair of Mary Janes combines two important trends of the mid 1960s by taking a classic little girl's style and giving it a modernistic twist with angular lines and a metallic heel.

Artist

Charles Jourdan|House of Charles Jourdan

Date

1965

Medium

leather, plastic

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 Jane Holzer, 1977