Shoe prototype

This object comes from a group of over seventy-five shoe prototypes designed in Paris in 1939 by Steven Arpad. Aside from the lines of leather accessories and jewelry he produced under his own name in the 1940s, Arpad seems to have worked mostly anonymously. The prototypes are accompanied by an extensive archive of original sketches which has made it possible to identify uncredited shoe designs for Balenciaga and Delman as Arpad's work. Containing some of the most creative, unique, and unusual examples of footwear design in the collection, the museum's holdings appear to be the only documented body of the work of this extraordinary designer. To counterbalance the extreme texture of the very unusual quilted leather of this design, Arpad introduces a robust rolled treatment at the toe and closure. The reptilian feeling of the quilted leather is complimented by the horn-like protrusions, but well balanced by the large areas of plain patent.