Model No. 182

This pair of sporty shoes is documented as Model No. 182 in the Steven Arpad design archive. This extensive collection, along with over seventy-five shoe prototypes at the Brooklyn Museum, has made it possible to identify uncredited shoe designs, including pieces for Balenciaga and Delman, as Arpad's work. The museum's holdings appear to be the only documented body of the work of this extraordinarily inventive and sophisticated designer. Here, Arpad finesses a fairly simple, basic design with appealing details: the unusual shape of the toe is echoed in the roll across throat, which has the appearance of being formed from a continuation of the apron front. The effect is of a sardine can with the top partially rolled back on the buckle "key".