NEW! Special Edition “Dunmore” 18th c. Shoes in Red/White

This year, we’ve created a special shoe to coincide with the launch of our new book, The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking.

The idea came about from the shoes we created for Maggie to wear with the 1780 Italian gown – white Dunmores dyed bright red with the heels painted white. Originally only available in black wool or white cotton sateen, the allure of one of our most popular 18th century shoes in leather seemed too ripe to pass up. So here they are, our special holiday shoe: Red & White Leather Dunmore!

Red Dunmores featuring the new Forget Me Not 18th century shoe buckles by Sign of the Grey Horse

The best red leather shoes in the late 18th c. were made of Moroccan, a goat leather with a distinct pebbled finish. While Moroccan isn’t available today, we developed a pebbled finish on our calf leather uppers to mimic this historic material.

Red Leather Shoes, 1770-1789, Met Museum

Additionally, white bound edges and the white leather heel are hallmarks of mid 1770s – early 90s ladies shoes, so we opted for leather-covered heels in white and white twill tape on the edges. This two-tone style is one you see repeatedly in originals, prints, and paintings of the period.

“Dunmore” 18th Century Shoes in red pebbled leather with white binding and white leather heels. Shown here with “Fleur” 18th Century Shoe Buckles. AmericanDuchess.com

Women of the 18th century loved to wear brightly contrasting shoes with their outfits. While it may seem a bit of a “risk” to wear red and white shoes with your attire, we encourage you to try them – bold red shoes seem to go with everything, weirdly, and you can accent almost any gown with a bit of red here and there to make it pop. You can see the variety in these fabulous prints (just a few of *many* depicting red and white shoes):

Bob Blunt in Amaze, or Female Fashionable Follies, 1776, British Museum

The Fair Penitent, April 1781, British Museum

The Wishing Females, 1780s, American Antiquarian

We’re so excited about our special limited holiday Dunmore shoe, and we hope you are too! We only ran 200 pairs in ten sizes, so if you’re madly in love with these, don’t wait (or ask very nicely for Christmas or Hanukkah).

Georgian Gorgeous – “Dunmore” 18th Century Shoes in red leather trimmed in white.

Also, for our Black Friday Sale, November 24 – November 27, we are offering a combo deal with the new red Dunmores, free buckles or stockings (your choice), and a signed copy of our book for the sale price. Skip on over to AmericanDuchess.com to check it out!