The Count of Orsay’s Pumps

These satin d’Orsay pumps are pretty trifles I came upon by accident in a charity shop during a visit to my parents. I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from the train station, and only had time for a quick circuit around the shop.

The sun was winking on the marquise shaped rhinestones when I snatched these up from the shelf and saw that miraculously they were my size. They are only a tiny little bit worn, and I certainly could not leave them behind, for surely there is something irresistible about bejewelled shoes?

…surely there is something irresistible about bejewelled shoes?

D’Orsay pumps take their name from Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, the comte d’Orsay (1801–1852) who invented them. He was a distinguished and handsome man; an accomplished painter and sculptor; friend of Lord Byron and Benjamin Disraeli; and an expensive arbiter of fashion. Pumps were at that time commonly worn by men, and he realised that cutting away the sides of these shoes would make them fit more snugly. A dandy such as he would have been most concerned to present a polished appearance.

Since then, men’s heels have lowered, and it is women instead who don the count’s namesake, the d’Orsay pump.