Shoes

Shoemakers in the 1700s did not create a left and right shoe, instead they made straights, where both shoes were the same shape. They were originally fastened with a separate large buckle, that could have been jewelled or decorated. The turned up pointed toe would have peeped out beneath the hem of a woman's large skirt.

The shoes are covered in a green floral silk damask fabric and the same fabric may have been used to make the dress. The fine fabric would have only been suitable for wearing indoors. The leather soles are hand stitched to the uppers encasing a thin strip of white kid leather, the rand, around the entire perimeter of the shoe. The 'Louis' shaped heel of the shoe is typical of the style at the time, named after King Louis XIV of France whose tastes and style a century before had epitomised fashionable dress.