Evening slippers

Evening slippers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With the feet secreted beneath the huge hooped skirts of the 1860s, detailed or intricate ornamentation was of little avail on conmemporary ladies' footwear. While simple bow trims were therefore the norm, one does occasionally see exceptions, as exemplified here by the bold and lively decoration of applied ribbon stripes. These eye-catching slippers could not help but to grab one's attention with even the slightest glimpse. A nearly identical pair The Victorian and Albert Museum in London possesses a nearly identical example in blue and white (cat# T.562&A-1913, published in Lucy Pratt, "Shoes"; London: V & A Publications, 1999, pl. 38.) with the blockier heel of the 1850s.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.