Medium: Yellow silk satin with glass bead embroidery and rhinestones

Date: c.1890

Country: England

Credit: Museum purchase

Evening shoes, which had been hidden from sight for much of the 19th century, emerged in the mid-1880s when the bustled styles featured slightly shorter skirts. These elegant shoes, with their slightly turned-up toes and ornate beading, were worn with coordinating, silk openwork stockings and were intended to be seen. Brightly colored shoes such as these were newly fashionable throughout most of the 19th century. Evening shoes were invariably black or white satin.

Object Number: 2006.44.1