Maureen Martin chose….

a pair of shoes

I chose these shoes because of their beautiful design. With the decoration, extended pointed toe and three bar style they could almost feature in today’s fashion magazines. If only they could speak they would have an interesting story to tell about the owner and their times. Whose foot moulded these shoes into their unique shape I wonder? Who purchased them? Were they a gift? Surely such attractive shoes were a special treat! What good taste their owner had!

My personal choice of the year 1971, the year of their acquisition by the Herbert, is because I was married in that year and was gathering what used to be called a ‘trousseau’ for my wedding day. Shoes are for me a prized possession and I took some time to choose both the shoes to go with my wedding dress and for my ‘going away’ outfit. If only I could have owned this pair!

Maureen Martin is a member of the Herbert's Board of Trustees

What the curator says:

woman's bar shoes, 1890 to 1905, collected in 1971

These shoes are made from kid leather and are decorated with beads. Kid leather is made from young goat skin and is very soft. The curved heel on the shoe is often called a Louis heel, after Louis XIV of France. Beaded embroidery decoration was very popular in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. These shoes were a luxury item and would have been worn with evening dress.

The women who sewed the beads onto the shoes worked long hours for very little pay. They usually worked in their own home and could work 12 or 14 hours a day. The harsh conditions of beaders were exposed in an exhibition organised by the Women's Industrial Council in 1906.