Shoes

Unknown

1955–65 · leather · Costume Institute

In a play on the concept of the bronzed baby shoe, this single ankle-strap shoe uses an untraditional material to amusing effect. By stylizing the basic form with a widened strap and platform sole, the shoe's designer has bestowed an explicitly humorous tone to the strangely logical, albeit atypical, choice of metallic leather. The bronzing of baby shoes became a well known practice in the 1930s and expanded greatly in the post-war period. The designer of this shoe has created a witty conundrum: shall the already "bronze" baby shoe be bronzed? Further, if the bronzed baby shoe is a preserved memory, is this shoe then a purchased memory, complete without ever being worn? This shoe was saved by the footwear designer Margaret Clark of Margaret Jerrold, Inc., who may have appreciated its ironic overtones.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1955–65

Medium

leather

Culture

probably American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Margaret Jerrold Inc., 1965