Today is the day to celebrate mules, those pretty little backless, heeled slippers that have been gracing the feet of ladies for hundreds of years. In honor of our new pre-order release,
"Antoinette" 18th Century Mules, here are my references that helped in the design process:
Real 18th Century Mules
Fake 18th Century Mules (19th Century Wanna-Be's!)
Between 1869 and 1874, and also around the turn of the 20th century, there was a colonial revival that produced quite a few sweet "retro" shoes, with names like Moliere, Cromwell, Puritan, Mayflower, and Marie Antoinette. These shoes, mules included, took their styling from original 18th century examples, yet still somehow came out looking oh-so-Victorian/Edwardian. Here are the poseurs:
I wonder if a hundred years from now historians might look at the
Antoinette mules the way we're looking at these 19th century mules right now. It seems unfair to call them "fakes," haha, but I do feel a weird connection with the designers who created these a century ago, and wonder if they felt that same drive to get as close as possible to the original Georgian examples.
So as you can see, our little
Antoinettes can be worn from about 1700 all the way through the 1760s and early 70s, but may *also* be worn for late Victorian and Edwardian too. Talk about versatile! What's even cooler is that you can over-dye the pink or the blue to get a different shade, using the sweet
International Fabric Dyes we just got in the shop - so imagine these in scarlet red, a deep royal blue, or a brilliant turquoise.
