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Evening shoes

Designer Pierre Yantorny Italian
1914–19
Not on view
Pietro Yantorny (1874-1936), the self-proclaimed "most expensive shoemaker in the world", was a consummate craftsman utterly devoted to the art of shoemaking. Yantorny sought to create the most perfectly crafted shoes possible for a select and exclusive clientele of the most perfectly dressed people. Because Yantorny did not advertise and his production was strictly limited, his work is now best known through surviving shoes he created for Rita de Acosta Lydig, who reportedly owned over 300 pairs. Lydig was an avid collector of antique lace and textiles, and provided Yantorny materials with which to make her shoes. Alluring and individualistic, Lydig was in ideal client for Yantorny: dedicated to the art of self-presentation, profligate in her clothing expenditures, and very rich

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Evening shoes
  • Designer: Pierre Yantorny (Italian, 1874–1936)
  • Date: 1914–19
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: silk, metal, jet
  • Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mercedes de Acosta, 1953
  • Object Number: 2009.300.1178a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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