Pair of women's black leather shoes, 1790-1799, English, floral embroidery

Pair of black leather shoes with shaped cut-away sections revealing cream silk embroidered with green, pink and cream thread in chain stitched floral sprigs. Trimmed with yellow silk ribbon, with pointed toes and low 'Italian' heels covered in yellow leather

Given by Messrs Harrods Ltd.

These were part of a very large collection of items of dress and accessories which was given to the Museum by Harrods, the department store, in 1913. The collection had been formed by the artist Talbot Hughes, who wrote a book on the history of dress, illustrated with photographs of models wearing items from his collection. A large firm in America had offered to buy the collection and present it to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, but Hughes did not want it to go abroad. At the suggestion of Cecil Harcourt Smith of the V&A, Harrods bought it for £2,500 and gave it to the Museum for the 'public good'. Harrods displayed the collection for three weeks in December 1913.

T.478-1913