Women's Plateau Clogs

ca. 1972

These colorful clogs lift the wearer as if standing on a six-inch-high plateau. Contrasting double stitching joins leather panels in rich red (heel and tongue), cream (toecap), goldenrod (upper and square-toed sole), and light avocado (vamp), akin to the connected, chromatic blocks of a Mondrian painting. As explorations of gender expression expanded in the late 1960s, platform shoes gained popularity among women and men in the United States, a fad that persisted for the next decade. Their height also helped hems of the era’s bell-bottom pants hover above the ground. This pair belonged to former Anacostia Community Museum staff member Pearline Waldrop, whose colleagues remember the stylish graphic designer wearing them at work.