TWINKLE TOES
How the brilliant Daniel Roseberry managed to fuse Ancient Egypt’s and Elsa Schiaparelli’s Surrealist aesthetics together in his designs for the House of Schiaparelli’s posthumous revival…His modern day take on Ancient Egypt’s gold finger and toe stalls, which were originally used along with gold funerary sandals, (the most infamous examples found in King Tut’s tomb), was the perfect infusion of luxury and whimsy, two signature characteristics the legendary namesake designer was known for. Roseberry’s stalls were quite symbolically apropos considering his worthwhile efforts to keep the designer’s legacy very much alive during her afterlife…
Egyptian finger and toe stalls are pieces of gold jewelry used to protect digits during burial. Such stalls were used during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, as well as other eras, and were thought to protect the deceased from both magical and physical dangers, such as damage which could occur during the mummification process. Additionally, they were sometimes used in order to replace missing digits on the deceased, as it was believed that a complete body was needed for successful passage into the afterlife. This belief mirrors the myth of Osiris, whose body was put back together by his wife Isis, resulting in him becoming the first mummy. Some mummies were buried with prosthetics which they used in life, rather than toe stalls created specifically for burial. These stalls were most commonly found on the remains of royalty… Toe stalls were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, and a nearly complete set of finger and toe stalls was discovered in the tomb of three of the wives of Thutmose III in Thebes.
“I really like the freedom in which Schiap explored things,” Roseberry said over Zoom. “You know, while Chanel was making buttons made out of double C’s and it was very much an exercise in branding, Schiap’s buttons were peanuts and wrenches and hammers and birds and insects. It’s kind of this referential gymnastics that I feel like we can have here, as long as it feels like part of one world and one language. People know they can go other places for more polite designs.” • Courtesy of Nicole Phelps for Vogue
Mummified adult male with wrappings arranged in lozenges, a portrait-board fitted over the face, and the feet featuring a cartonnage case with gilded gold toes • Circa 80 - 120 A.D. • Roman Period • Egypt • National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Mummified adult male with wrappings arranged in lozenges, a portrait-board fitted over the face, and the feet featuring a cartonnage case with gilded gold toes • Circa 80 - 120 A.D. • Roman Period • Egypt • National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
Egyptian gold funerary toe stalls and sandals belonging to one of Thutmose III’s queens • Circa 1479 – 1425 B.C. • New Kingdom • Dynasty 18 • Egypt • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Egyptian gold toe stalls belonging to the funerary accoutrements discovered in the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III • Circa 1479 – 1425 B.C. • New Kingdom • Dynasty 18 • Egypt • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Gelatin silver print from glass negative entitled Sandals and Finger and Toe Stalls featuring Tutankhamun's famous sandals and toe stalls of gold sheet which were created specifically for his burial • Circa 1925 – 26 • Harry Burton • Egypt • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Egyptian gold finger and toe stalls belonging to the funerary accoutrements discovered in the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III • Circa 1479 – 1425 B.C. • New Kingdom • Dynasty 18 • Egypt • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Tutankhamun's gold finger and toe stalls on display at the 2010 King Tut exhibition at the Denver Art Museum • Circa 1327 B.C. • New Kingdom • 18th Dynasty • Found in Tutankhamun’s Tomb in the Valley of the Kings • Egypt • Image courtesy of Gary C. Caskey
Egyptian Gold Finger Stalls • Circa 1550 - 1069 BC. • New Kingdom • Egypt • The Egyptian Museum, Cairo
