Pumps

Mario Valentino|V. Valentino

1956 · leather · Costume Institute

The Osgood collection comprises 179 objects, chiefly fashionable Italian-made women's shoes dating from the years 1954 to 1958. The shoes were collected by Charline Osgood, Director of the Kid Leather Guild, a trade organization of American kid leather manufacturers. Highlighting the use of kid leather in footwear, the collection provides a fascinating and enticing view of high-style European shoe design from the period, representing many of the finest and most inventive Italian makers. Osgood called this type of shoe a "sweater pump", ostensibly due to its tight, sexy style echoing the "sweater girl" look of the 1940s and '50s. Strongly interested in improving the fit of American-made shoes, Osgood urged manufacturers in the U.S. to emulate the elasticized throat and general snugness of this model.

Artist

Mario Valentino|V. Valentino

Date

1956

Medium

leather

Culture

Italian

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Charline Osgood, 1960