Have you taken a look at Collection Worthy yet? Our newest pre-order collection features three new, highly decorative styles, including our Gwyneth Printed Pumps.
Gwyneth is based on antique shoes from the ‘transitional’ era. We use this term to refer to fashion between c. 1790-1810, at the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the regency period. Fashions from this time period have a lot of unique and interesting features that sort of blend the 18th century into Regency fashion. They are, well, transitional fashions.
This mid-1790s British wrap-front gown from the collection at the Met Museum is an example of transitional fashion. The silhouette still echoes the 18th century, but you can see the shape and style shifting more into Regency-era fashion.
Ladies footwear from this time period is especially interesting. The higher-heeled, latchet-and-buckle styles worn for most of the 1700s began to morph into flatter, slipper style shoes. You may be familiar with the Italian heel, a late-18th century heel style that can be found on our Josephines and Dunmores. The transitional period saw Louis heels transition to Italian heels, which eventually translated into flat heels with little to no lift at all. Pointed toes are also distinctive to footwear of this time period. Arguably, though, the most iconic hallmark of transitional era shoes is their decorative features.
In the 1790s and early 1800s, ladies slippers were often made of brightly colored materials. Whether the uppers were fabric or leather, slipper toes were often festooned with embroidery, sequins, or cut outs backed with contrasting colored silks. Boldly colored leathers were popular, often with repeating geometrical designs stamped on.
Pleated silk ribbon, rosettes, tassels, fringe, and other decorative trimmings were common as well. The pair above, c. 1805-1810, incorporates leather and textile uppers, white chain-stitched embroidery, and a pom-pom to finish it off. They also feature a teeny-tiny silver owl ornament within the pom-pom!
Starting in the 1790s, ribbons and ribbon lacing began to appear on ladies slippers as neoclassical fashions became popular.
The transitional era is such a fun and variated period of footwear to study, and to wear. We had long wanted to reproduce a pair of the printed leather shoes from this time period, and it was such a thrill to finally create our custom printed leather with which to make Gwyneth!
The motif we created was inspired by a number of examples (many seen in this post), but one pair in particular was our special muse. As they live in the collections at Amgueddfa Cymru- Museum Wales, it was only fitting to give our pair a good Welsh name, of course! Thus, Gwyneth was born.
Gwyneth comes in pink/black, ivory/gold, and seafoam/black. We simply cannot wait to see how these shoes are styled by our community members. If you order yours by August 17, you get 15% off each pair!
