Shoe buckle

Woman's silk damask shoes with buckles, 1740-1750, England. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.81.71.1a-b.

Shoe buckles are fashion accessories worn by men and women from the late 17th century through the 18th century. Shoe buckles were made of a variety of materials including brass, steel, silver or silver gilt, and buckles for formal wear were set with diamonds, quartz or imitation jewels. Buckled shoes began to replace tied shoes in the mid-17th century, and separate buckles remained fashionable until they were abandoned along with high-heeled footwear and other aristocratic fashions in the years after the French Revolution.

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  Man's steel and gilt wire shoe buckles, England, c. 1777–1785 LACMA M.80.92.6a-b.
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  Woman's silver and steel shoe buckles with paste stones, 1780–85. LACMA M.80.92.1a-b
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  Man's shoe buckles with case. Paste stones with gilded-copper-alloy trim on silver and steel, France, c. 1785. LACMA M.2007.211.829a-b.

See also

• 1700–1750 in fashion
• 1750–1795 in fashion

References

• Takeda, Sharon Sadako, and Kaye Durland Spilker, Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700 - 1915, Prestel USA (2010), ISBN 9783791350622
• Tortora, Phyllis G. and Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic Costume. 2nd Edition, 1994. Fairchild Publications. ISBN 0563670038