Evening slippers
1845–65
Medium
Silk
Classification
Evening slippers
Culture
British
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Herman Delman, 1954
Accession Number
2009.300.4712a, b
Art Historical Context
Step into the refined world of Victorian elegance with these *Evening Slippers* crafted by the esteemed British firm Gundry & around 1845–65. Made from sumptuous silk, these delicate shoes were designed for formal evening wear, the period's obsession with understated luxury and intricate detail. Worn by women of means during soirées and balls, they peeked from beneath lavish gowns, whispering of the wearer's sophistication. In mid-19th-century Britain, footwear like these represented a pinnacle of artisanal skill, where silk's lustrous sheen caught the flicker of gaslight and candle flames. G...