Shoes: Pleasure and Pain

Victoria & Albert Museum

Victoria & Albert museum  propose a journey trough the footwear history. As an integral part of human culture and civilization, shoes have found their way into our culture, folklore, and art. The exhibition will show around 200 pairs of shoes ranging from a sandal decorated in pure gold leaf originating from ancient Egypt to the most elaborate designs by contemporary makers.

The exhibition will consider the cultural significance and transformative capacity of shoes and will examine the latest developments in footwear technology creating the possibility of ever higher heels and dramatic shapes. Examples from famous shoe wearers as Marilyn Monroe, or Sarah Jessica Parker,  will be shown alongside a dazzling range of historic shoes, many of which have not been displayed before. Designers Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Prada all represented.

Other exciting examples in the exhibition will be the excessively long-toed Medieval shoes, the extremely high-heeled 1890s fetish boots, jewel-encrusted Indian slippers, a beautiful array of Roger Vivier pull-overs (these are a bit like shoe prototypes), the tiny shoes for the Chinese bound feet, and of course Vivienne Westwood’s blue mock-croc platform shoes in which Naomi Campbell fell over – the original fashion roadkill.