Model No. 152Model No. 152

This object comes from a group of over seventy-five shoe prototypes designed in Paris in 1939 by Steven Arpad. Aside from the lines of leather accessories and jewelry he produced under his own name in the 1940s, Arpad seems to have worked mostly anonymously. The prototypes are accompanied by an extensive archive of original sketches which has made it possible to identify uncredited shoe designs for Balenciaga and Delman as Arpad's work. Containing some of the most creative, unique, and unusual examples of footwear design in the collection, the museum's holdings appear to be the only documented body of the work of this extraordinary designer.
Arpad quotes directly from current fashion in this design with its whimsical and feminine blouse-like treatment of the closure. The elegance and refinement of the design masks the simple concept of a piece of leather brought up around the foot, tied at the throat, and the loose top edges allowed to collapse into folds.