Lydig Fetish

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 "a shoe without sex appeal is as barren as a tree without leaves..."

~Rita Lydig

to worship at her feet-
now at the Metropolitan on display the bespoke leather trunk of RITA ACOSTA LYDIG made by Italian master Pietro Yantorny, with Yantorny carved shoe trees. Curator of shoes at the Musée Cluny in Paris as well-He created hundreds of pairs of shoes for the incomparable Lydig.

In Cecil Beaton's Glass of Fashion, he tells of "Yanturni" demanding one thousand dollars to begin work-taking one to three years to complete a pair. The weightless (no more than an ostrich feather-with shoe trees), Yanturni shoe was sculpted from a model of the wearer's feet. Lydig's shoes were styled from 11th and 12th century shoe designs- extreme pointed toes, square toes, square heels & made of brocades, silks, gold and silver-metals and laces. The shoe trees were carved from the light wood of violins collected by Lydig expressly for such a purpose.  The shoes were housed in trunks made from Russian leather with cream velvet linings.

Who says-details don't count? No Free Shipping that.

image from the Met here
a Stokes story here
see a video at Bart Boehlert's site here

BOLDINI portrait of Rita Lydig,here

Sheperd and Derom Galleries

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