Pumps

The Osgood collection comprises 179 objects, chiefly fashionable Italian-made women's shoes dating from the years 1954 to 1958. The shoes were collected by Charline Osgood, Director of the Kid Leather Guild, a trade organization of American kid leather manufacturers. Highlighting the use of kid leather in footwear, the collection provides a fascinating and enticing view of high-style European shoe design from the period, representing many of the finest and most inventive Italian makers.
Italian shoe designers experimented with many variations of the slender stiletto heel of the later 1950s. Replacing a leather or synthetic heel with an internal steel shank, the brass neck in this example brings the structure to the surface. Osgood took particular note of the straight lines in the cut, low cleavage, sense of movement, and reflection of the natural asymmetry of the foot.