Shoes

Thomas Ridout

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Prior to the late 18th century, shoemakers and vendors seldom marked the shoes they sold. It is fortunate then, to find this pair of latchet shoes from the third quarter of the 18th century which retains the adhered paper label of it London maker. The pointed tongue was fashionable from the 1770s; in this pair of shoes the original square tongue has been folded and stitched into a point in order to update the style. The increasing taste for simpler and lighter-feeling textile designs over the course of the 18th century can be seen in the silk uppers of these shoes, which has been carefully cut to make most effective use of the brocaded motifs

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art