#1000 $385
Silk satin half boots, c.1830
A small foot, gently covered with close-fitting silk, was considered a sign of taste and gentility. Narrow half-boots of delicate satin made the foot appear smaller, more shapely, and feminine.
The side-lacing boots are lined with ivory linen and have no heels. The soles, which are straights, are leather. In The Seductive Shoe, Jonathan Walford explains that colored footwear went out of fashion in the 1830s, when hem lines hit the floor—an embrace of feminine modesty just before Queen Victoria ascended the throne.
Black and white footwear increasingly dominated the fashion scene until by the mid 1850s, fashion writers specified only black and white. The American Peterson's Magazine wrote (1855) that "nothing can be more elegant than a pure white or black satin shoe."
The condition is very good. There is minor splitting of the satin where it is joined to the sole. This is reflected in the price.
The half boots are 9" long.
