Observations: Sewing & Stability
The efforts of the dancer are inscribed in her feet, through
calluses and scars and, in the absence of these, her shoes will tell the
observer much about the rigors of ballet en pointe. While Taglioni’s
shoes, shown in these photos, exhibit little wear,
the appearance of these present-day pointe shoes should suffice
to convey the wear and tear that the footwear of a ballerina endures. The
heavy darning around the soles and sides of 
the
toe of the nineteenth-century slipper have been interpreted by
most as a measure taken to provide
additional support to the foot as it strained to achieve verticality. However,
Romantic ballerinas bound their feet in starched muslin or felt before
putting on their slippers (Lee
1999) and this measure most likely would
have provided the necessary amount of extra stability and protection required
to rise
to the tips of their toes.