Groom's wedding shoes with stuffing

Title
Groom's wedding shoes with stuffing
Year/Period
late 19th to early 20th century
Region
Malacca or Singapore
Object Type
Dimension
Object size: Refer to parts
Accession No.
2017-01072
Collection of

This pair of groom’s wedding shoes has a multi-coloured velvet base, along with a leather interior and sole. Raised gold and silver embroidery was utilised to craft motifs of phoenixes and peonies on the face of the shoes. Accompanying the shoes is a pair of rare shoe cushioning, used to maintain the shoes’ shapes. Peranakan grooms wore shoes like these during weddings, paired with the traditional Peranakan jacket and robe, when the new couple would say their vows. They are quite uncommon, as wedding slippers or mules were favoured in weddings across the Straits Settlements during the late 19th and 20th centuries.