Boots

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

For the feminine foot, the ankle boot was the dominant outdoor footwear from the 1830s to the 1870s, a convention which continued to the 1920s for winter wear. This pair of boots - with the low straight top, side lacing, and squarish toe - is typical of about 1860. The side lacing was standard from the 1830s until gradually being replaced by front lacing in the 1860s. The small heel and abbreviated heel foxing are minor concessions to practicality in an otherwise very thin and flimsy shoe.

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