Model No. 467

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.
Feminized versions of men's shoes were brought to a new level of creativity in the 1930s. Now far removed from the prototypical saddle oxford, this particularly elegant rendition incorporates a streamlined strappy saddle with a curl motif at the throat. Cut outs and other open details were widely used at the end of the decade.