Shoes
In a play on the concept of the bronzed baby shoe, this single ankle-strap shoe uses an untraditional material to amusing effect. By stylizing the basic form with a widened strap and platform sole, the shoe's designer has bestowed an explicitly humorous tone to the strangely logical, albeit atypical, choice of metallic leather. The bronzing of baby shoes became a well known practice in the 1930s and expanded greatly in the post-war period. The designer of this shoe has created a witty conundrum: shall the already "bronze" baby shoe be bronzed? Further, if the bronzed baby shoe is a preserved memory, is this shoe then a purchased memory, complete without ever being worn? This shoe was saved by the footwear designer Margaret Clark of Margaret Jerrold, Inc., who may have appreciated its ironic overtones.
Artwork Details
- Title: Shoes
- Date: 1955–65
- Culture: probably American
- Medium: leather
- Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Margaret Jerrold Inc., 1965
- Object Number: 2009.300.3268
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Multiple artists/makers
spring/summer 2022
Elizabeth Hawes
1937
Charles James
1955
Charles James
1946
Charles James
1953
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