Pumps

The Osgood collection comprises 179 objects, chiefly fashionable Italian-made women's shoes dating from the years 1954 to 1958. The shoes were collected by Charline Osgood, Director of the Kid Leather Guild, a trade organization of American kid leather manufacturers. Highlighting the use of kid leather in footwear, the collection provides a fascinating and enticing view of high-style European shoe design from the period, representing many of the finest and most inventive Italian makers.
Osgood noted the contemporary importance of what she classified as "Empire pumps", which placed emphasis on ball of foot (or the "breasts" of the foot in her parlance), seeing it as a correspondence with contemporary breast emphasis in couture fashion. The novel and appealing fish-eye effect detail in this dressy pump provides for a contrast in textures between the "milan" suede and the black patent.