Edwardian Beaded Shoes

Manchester, 1900, Austrian

The pinnacle of footwear styling in the Edwardian period was The Beaded Shoe.  Nothing is quite so lovely, so sparkly, so special, and so enticing.  Beads could be found on both shoes and boots, and accentuated the already gorgeous cut- and strap-work that was so popular at the time.  Here’s a look at what’s inspiring my grey matter today:

Shoe Icons, 1900-1915
Maria Niforos, c. 1900
The Met, 1910s
The Met, c. 1916
The Met, 1915-20
The Met, 1915 – these are suede
The Met, 1906 – look at that little web of seed beads between the straps!
Vintage Textile, but I believe the record is no longer online – via
Also from Vintage textile, with a missing record

In today’s world of shoes, with studs and sparkles to be seen all over, you’d think something like this would be possible to manufacture, so we’re going to give it a try. 🙂

20 Comments

Leave a Reply

Discover more from American Duchess Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading