Slippers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While plain black or white satin slippers were favored for eveningwear in the second quarter of the 19th century, daywear shoes, particularly house slippers, could be more colorful and ornate. The appealing embroidery on this pair of tabbed slippers transforms an otherwise mundane object and reflects the lingering taste for neoclassical designs. Curiously, the heavy sole and small wedge heel suggest that they were intended for public wear, as opposed to domestic confinement, however shoes where generally considered excessively immodest and inappropriate for walking and visiting at this time.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art