Evening pumps

Steigerwalt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shoes with a high tab front sporting a large buckle, revived from a century earlier, began to come back into fashion in the 1870s, and were particularly successful from the 1890s to the 1920s. The style appeared under various names, including “Cromwell," "Colonial, “and "Molière", according to the date and locality of the trend. This pair of colonial pumps (they are indeed pumps, which slip on foot with the buckle merely ornamental) features an interesting combination textures in the matte finish of the suede contrasting with the shine of the metal. The lace ruffle design of the buckle is a particularly unusual and appealing detail. Suede was a new material in 1890, not yet associated exclusively with daywear, and available in various pale shades. Family history records the pair as having been worn by Mrs. Nelson Lloyd Deming of Litchfield, Connecticut, to the Yale Junior Promenade, 1890.

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