Oxfords

Crayons

ca. 1982 · synthetic fiber, plastic · Costume Institute

The "Peacock Revolution" of the late 1960s had opened the door to increased variety and self-expression in menswear, and even as more conservative styles began to predominate by the late 1970s, a wider range of choices was available to those wanting it. Worn by a television fashion director, presumably a man with an elevated dedication to the latest styles, this pair of shoes combines two trendy elements of the period: the jazz-shoe style and the jelly sole. As an inexpensive, distinctively colored, all synthetic item of limited timeliness, the shoes can be understood as a response to the accelerating consumer culture and material disposability of 1980s.

Artist

Crayons

Date

ca. 1982

Medium

synthetic fiber, plastic

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of George Drew, 1988