Boots

Hellstern and Sons

1900–1910 · leather · Costume Institute

While short boots prevailed as the correct apparel for street wear from the 1830s to the 1920s, button and laced styles alternated as the fashionable choice. Button boots predominated from 1900 to World War I, and this pair is representative that style. From a top quality Parisian shoemaker, these boots are notable for the refined detailing and construction which is lighter and more delicate than an American boot. Pairing a patent vamp and foxing with a matte leather top was a common practice at the time. The peaked toe cap suggests a date close to 1900.

Artist

Hellstern and Sons

Date

1900–1910

Medium

leather

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 Rodman A. Heeren, 1959