Maison Chapelle Cordonnier - Pair of Purple Slippers, about 1900

Fullscreen
Back
4 more
2 more
This pair of iridescent purple satin slippers has leather soles and is lined with white kid and linen. The slippers have a series of five straps across the vamp. Each strap is decorated at its center with a small bow made of grosgrain ribbon. The toes are oval shaped and they have low, squat heels. The silk is faded in places, but is still mostly vibrant.  

Maison Chapelle Cordonnier (established Paris, 1815)

Pair of Purple Slippers, about 1900

Satin, silk, grosgrain silk, and leather; lined with white kid and linen , Overall: 10 x 2 1/2 x 4 in. (25.4 x 6.4 x 10.2 cm)

Off View
Explore

Commentary

Made in Paris in the late nineteenth century, this pair of fashionable satin slippers with graduated straps dotted by bows, were a gift from Isabella Stewart Gardner to her goddaughter, Katharine Foote, daughter of famous Boston composer, Arthur Foote. Foote donated them to the Perkins School for the Blind for use in the drama department’s costume collection, where they could be worn by children in school plays. Imbued with happy memories of school performances, by 1954 the shoes were no longer used, and they were donated to the museum as a relic of Isabella’s taste in fashion.