What an exciting day! Our Flora Embroidered Boots, originally from our In Bloom collaboration collection with the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, is now available to pre-order in D-width through our Flora in Wide collection!

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This collaboration collection was inspired by the Bata Shoe Museum‘s special exhibition, “In Bloom: Flowers and Footwear”, which is open to the public until October 6, 2024. This exhibition is themed all around floral motifs in footwear, and features explorations of the languages of flowers, shoemaking materials used to create floral motifs in historical footwear, and how nature has inspired shoemaking across time and places.

American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog

Back in 2023, we worked with the museum’s curatorial team to reproduce three beautiful shoes from the 18th century, the 19th century, and the 20th century. One of these shoes was an iconic pair of floral embroidered F. Pinet boots from the 1880s. These boots were on display as part of an exhibition called "Obsessed: How Shoes became the Object of Desire", which closed earlier this year.


American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog
Yes, it's that boot! Very cutesy, very demure.

It was such a joy to bring these boots back to life in the form of Flora! Flora was the best-selling style from our In Bloom collection launch, and today, we are delighted to offer Flora in D-width, in all six colorways, for pre-order. If you order yours by September 1, you get 15% off each pair, plus you guarantee getting the color you most desire. Flora in Wide is available in sizes 5-13, in D-width! Plus, every pair of Floras sold benefits and supports The Bata Shoe Museum in their study, outreach, and conservation.

American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog

Flora is accurate to the 1870s-1900s, and features satin ribbon laces and a full leather lining. Flora comes in six colorways: black (original colorway), light blue, forest green, ivory, lavender, and celadon green. Flora features all-over floral embroidery on poly satin uppers, inspired by the original embroidery on the Pinet boot. Flora has a 1.75″/4.4 cm French heel (the same as Astoria), and a soft toe box with no toe counter. Flora is meant to have a close fit; if you are curious about which size to order in our wide sizes, simply reach out to our fit experts at info@americanduchess.com. They will be happy to assist!


Dedicated entirely to shoes and related artifacts, the Bata Shoe Museum houses an extensive collection of historical shoes from around the world. We love this museum, and it has been dream come true for us to work with them and support them!

The mission of the Bata Shoe Museum is to communicate the central role of footwear in shaping the social and cultural life of humanity. Through acquiring, conserving, researching, interpreting and exhibiting material evidence of the history of footwear and shoemaking, the museum illustrates the changing habits, lifestyles, culture and customs of the world’s inhabitants. The BSM’s international collection of nearly 15 000 artefacts spans 4,500 years of history.

The Flora in Wide collection is available for 15% off each pair, from August 23- September 1 in our US and UK/EU stores. Flora in Wide is available in D-width, sizes 5-13. Now you just have to pick your favorite color!


Pre-Order is Open
August 23-September 1, 2024
15% Discount Per Pair
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