. . . "Label for the exhibition Shoes: Pleasure and Pain\n\nOn Your Toes \nWith their slender high heels, these women\u2019s shoes showed off the wearer\u2019s tiny foot and shapely leg under the ankle-length dresses then fashionable. A partial wedge supported the span of the arch. Nonetheless, the thin satin-covered wooden heel would not take much weight and the wearer would have had to balance on her toes.\nBlack shoes\n1770\u201389\nFrance or Italy\nSilk satin and leather\nGiven by Mrs Willoughby Hodgson\nV&A: T.215&A-1916 [2015-2016]\nBlack satin shoe\nFrench or Italian, 1770-1785\nMuseum no. T.215A-1916\nGiven by Mrs. Willoughby Hodgson [2007]"@en .