Shoes
Despite the dressy quality of this pair of highly polished, all-black saddle shoes, they retain some of the sporty feeling typical to the style. The saddle shoe is distinguished by the application of a separate piece of leather over the waist of the shoe, often in a contrasting color, forming the lacing tabs. The style was introduced by A. G. Spalding in 1906 as a gym oxford, with the saddle providing added reinforcement around the instep. By the late 1930s, bi-color saddle shoes were being worn widely as a comfortable everyday shoe by both male and female students. This example has dispensed with the traditional rubber sole, but uses the saddle form to bring variety and freshness to a business shoe.
Artwork Details
- Title: Shoes
- Manufacturer: Hurd Shoe Co.
- Date: 1930–39
- Culture: American
- Medium: leather
- Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Kenneth S. Hurd, 1959
- Object Number: 2009.300.1520a–d
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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