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Pair of shoes
Unknown - Enlarge image
Pair of shoes
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, UK (made)
- Date:
1730s-1740s (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Leather, with uppers covered in brocaded Spitalfields silk and trimmed with silk ribbons
- Credit Line:
Given by Col. F. G. G. Bailey
- Museum number:
T.274&A-1922
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This pair of women's shoes is made up of a brocaded silk woven in Spitalfields, London. Indoor shoes for women were usually made of patterned silk although it was very rare for them to match the fabric of the gown worn with them. The shoes have a fashionable pointed toe, a medium stocky heel and latchets that would have been fastened with buckles. Buckles were regarded as separate accessories and transferred from one pair of shoes to another.
The shoes are complemented by the velvet pattens in which they sit. These pattens are described separately (see T.274B&C-1922). Lack of wear suggests that shoes like this went with a luxurious lifestyle and were perhaps worn in dry conditions, in sedan chairs or even indoors. They were really fashion accessories, without any real utilitarian value.
