Model No. 112

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.
The attractive cut and elegant lines of this slip-on are enlivened by the application of an unexpected flame design. Although the precise inspiration is not known, the flame motif recalls the customized paintwork of hot rod cars, a manifestation of the occupant's speed and devil-may-care attitude. The motif can also be read as a satirical reference to the searing pain inflicted by women's fashionable footwear. The Surrealist art movement had a profound presence in fashion at this time, and its precepts are certainly in evidence here.