Slip these on: Shoes through the ages
This sculptural shoe attempts to capture the same sense of kinetic energy found in Wassily Kandinsky's Lithography for the fourth Bauhaus bag. Fluid forms have been juxtaposed with angular structured lines. The softness of lamb nappa contrasts against the severity of metal and reflects the disparity of shapes within the image. Copyright: 2009 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto (Photo: Paterson Photographic)
Most of us give little thought to the evolution of shoes. We just slip on a pair each day and head out the door. But the Bata Shoe Museum in Torono collects, exhibits and displays footwear from around the world, with 13,000 examples of early designs and styles.
A story about the museum and the history of shoes was published in Sunday’s Life section, but space limitations meant we couldn’t include all the pictures. Here are more pictures. You can also read the story here.
Wooden qabaqib shoes inlaid with mother-of-pearl. These tall Ottoman qabaqib measure 26 cm, 10 inches in height. Qabaqib such as these were worn by women in Turkish bathhouses to elevate them above the heated floors. Ottoman dress inspired many European fashions and the soaring heights of some Ottoman qabaqib may have encouraged Venetian chopine makers to make chopines that rivaled qabaqib in elevation. (AP photo/Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto)
This undated photo released by Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, shows a pair of boots made by Ungava Inuit Louisa Ippak from Blecher Island. She repurposed a pair of commercially made rubber-soled boots by replacing their shafts with handmade sealskin uppers. Her creation combines tradition with innovation and was designed to keep her son warm and dry. (AP Photo/Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Antony Vecera)
A model wears a creation part of the Salvatore Ferragamo Women's Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection presented in Milan, Italy. (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar)
These slap-sole shoes were once the property of the descendents of Frances Walsingham. The attenuated toes reflect 1660s fashion and suggest that they may have been gifted to one of Walsinghams family members during that decade. Visual evidence of the origin of the slap-sole, which was originally a mule and a heeled shoe joined together, almost disappears in this late version of the style. The mule is no longer a structural component of these shoes but is instead simply indicated by a decorative braid outline. (AP Photo/Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto)
This shoe is the epitome of late 1930s Hollywood glamour. The heel is reminiscent of art deco architecture while the red and gold color combination suggests the exotic. (AP Photo/Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto)
Gucci shows a Gucci grey leather high heel open-toe platform boot with cut out detail. (AP Photo/Gucci, Andrzs Sarlosi)
A 1937 Delman day shoe, black silk faille. (AP Photo/Fashion Institute of Technology)
In this undated image released by Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia via the Bata Shoe Museum, shown are chopines. These undated chopines are one of only two existing pairs of chopines held in Venetian museums; they are also one of the tallest extant pairs. Sixteenth century artworks and textual sources suggest that some women actually wore chopines of similar height. (AP Photo/Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia)
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FLIPPEN AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! pt more on!!!!!!