The elegant flat satin lady's slipper first became popular in England during the last decade of the eighteenth century. Its plain design was part of the movement in fashion away from what were considered by some to be the extravagant excesses of the late eighteenth century. The move was towards a simpler, purer style of dress and footwear that was influenced by designs from classical antiquity.

Slippers or 'sandal shoes', continued to be worn well into the mid-century although by the 1850s they were used mainly for formal wear in black or white. The shape and form of this shoe is typical of that style. The rounded toe and throat with decorative satin bow detail and thin leather sole can be found on numerous other surviving examples. However, the use of shot silk, which gives the shoe a bluish sheen, rather than a plain satin, alongside blue thread for the stitching and blue silk trim for the edges make this a more unusual adaptation of the standard type.