Gilded New York....a visit to the Museum of the City of New York

On a recent visit to the Museum of the City of New York we visited one of their exhibitions "Gilded New York". It explores the culture of the city at the end of the 19th century, an era marked by success and lavish lifestyles.  The exhibition features jewelry, costumes and decorative objects set in a beautiful display. We even found some shoes!
From their website:

Explore the visual culture of elite New York in the late-19th and early- 20th centuries.

Inaugurating the Museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, Gilded New York explores the city’s visual culture at the end of the 19th century, when its elite class flaunted their money as never before. In New York, this era was marked by the sudden rise of industrial and corporate wealth, amassed by such titans as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, who expressed their high status through extravagant fashions, architecture, and interior design. The exhibition presents a lavish display of some 100 works, including costumes, jewelry, portraits, and decorative objects, all created between the mid-1870s and the early 20th century. The dazzling works in the exhibition will illuminate an era when members of the new American aristocracy often displayed their wealth in storied balls in Fifth Avenue mansions and hotels. It was a time when New York became the nation’s corporate headquarters and a popular Ladies’ Mile of luxury retail establishments and cultural institutions helped launch the city to global prominence.

Fancy dress costume by Maison Worth representing “Electric Light,” 1883 • Worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball

Matching satin and sequin slippers and silk stockings to go with her gown

Link to visit the Museum website http://www.mcny.org/content/gilded-new-york

Victorian Lace-Up Boots

We were going through our archives and found this lovely photo from a past New York Times Magazine editorial.  Featuring our Black "Victoria" granny style boots.

Victoria Boot

Peter Fox Shoes On Sale

BIG SUMMER SALE!!!
We will be retiring some long standing styles from our collection. Last chance to order some of your favorites....at a big discount!
Sales are in both Bridal/Dyeable and Leather collections.
Remember...you don't have to be a bride to purchase dyeable shoes.  They can also be dyed to any color for evening shoes or just to a fun color.  Did you ever want to own a pair of red silk shoes?  Now is the perfect time!
10% to 70% off in Bridal and Leather styles!
www.peterfox.com

Red Silk Shoes

Spectator shoes

Oxford shoes

Shoes with Red Bows and Beads

Shoe History

We came across this amazing pair of shoes while browsing the Bata Shoe Museum site.

Among the exotica that made its way to Venice were the highkabkabs worn by Turkish women in bathhouses. Kabkabs are thought to have inspired the chopine. These wooden kabkabs are beautifully decorated with inlaid mother of pearl. Reaching the height of twenty-six centimetres, these kabkabs are less than half the height of the tallest chopine.

Kabkabs
Turkish, 19th century

One Of Our Favorite Shoe Books

One of our favorite shoe books is....

 "Shoes, A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More" by Linda O'Keeffe.

Printed in 1996 by Workman Publishing; this book is filled with wonderful shoe photos from historical to modern.  It also contains many interesting facts, quotes and stories.  It even has two photos of Peter Fox Shoes, shown in the pages below.  A must have for shoe lovers, designers and fashion history fans.

Front cover

back cover

Custom Order Your Shoe Size

May 2012 Update:  This Special Order Programme has closed.  New selections coming soon.
We are excited to introduce a new program where you can custom order your size in advance!  No more running out of sizes.... more styles, size ranges and colors added.
Now you can order from size 4 to 12....sizes not always available before.
Click on the link below to connect to our page.

Vintage Peter Fox Shoes

We came across this advertisement from the mid-1980's...love the colors!

1980's Flashback...Bridal styles of the 80's

We were looking through some of our older magazine editorials the other day and it struck us at how different wedding styles are now than they were in the 80's.
When Peter Fox started doing shoes in 1982 it was the Reagan Era, Dynasty was a top TV show and women were power dressing.  Excess was in and shoulders were large.  This also applied to wedding styles, dresses had so many "over the top" details.  Big shoulders, "Leg of mutton" sleeves, lots of lace and big wreath-like headpieces. Brides wore white stockings often in lace patterns and shoes were much heavier and heels were lower. The most famous bride of the decade, Princess Diana, epitomized this style with her huge ruffled dress and long train.

Here are a few pictures from our archives, the first three feature earlier Peter Fox Shoes, the rest are just fun to look at.

                                    

Princess Diana

                                   

The iconic Billy Idol White Wedding Album cover

   

Luke and Laura from General Hospital, One of the most
watched TV Weddings