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It’s true that diamonds are a girl’s best friend … but her shoes are her soul mates.
Women have always had a love affair with the things they wear on their feet, emptying out their (and joint) bank accounts for a pair of Jimmy Choo’s or Manolo Blahnik’s.
This obsession can either unite women or make them bitter enemies as they fight for the last pair of Christian Loubouton’s in a sale. But as they step out in killer stilettos or ballerina shoes, none of them really stop and think how shoes first came about.
Luckily for the kingdom’s fashionistas, Moda Mall has launched a unique vintage international exhibition brought in from Canada entitled: ‘A Shoe Story’, offering a closer look at the evolution of fancy footwear that has shoppers begging for more.
The exhibit, from the Fashion History Museum in Ontario, Canada, was inaugurated by Dr Fatima Al Balooshi, the Minister of Human Rights and Social Development, and was attended by the Canadian honorary counsel Qays Al Zubi, as well as chair and co-founder of the show, Kenneth Norman.
Mr Norman said: “It’s popular and shoes sell. It’s our first experience here in the Middle East and one of our mandates is to promote the fashion industry globally as it really is a universal unifying piece.
“We have two shoes in the exhibit from near this area, one from Algeria and the other from Syria. We do try to collect as much as we can internationally.”
Mr Norman, alongside co-founder and curator Johanthon Walford, have been collecting shoes for the past 35 years from a number of different sources such as auctions and even gifts from people. They have a founding collection of roughly about 8,000 to 9,000 pieces of which 80 are on show in Bahrain.
The shoes on display date from 1760 to a pair of 2006 Loubouton boots. Mr Norman added: “While the shoes may look fragile it’s surprising how much stronger the material was back then. For example, 18th Century silk is nothing like the silk today, it is incredibly strong and I am so impressed by it. Also, depending on the time, some shoes were called crooked because there wasn’t a left or right side; it just took on the shape of the person’s foot.
“Shoes really do have so much history and there are all types of contributing factors to the evolution such as religion, social norms, material and technology. So it’s really a treat to see where shoes started from and how they transformed into the shoes of today.”
Shoe lovers visiting the mall will have the unique opportunity to glimpse footwear worn by Lauren Becall, once voted amongst the ‘50 Most Beautiful People in the World’, Ginger Rogers, Hollywood’s highest paid star of 1942 and Imelda Marcos, renowned for her extensive shoe collection, in addition to other fascinating show pieces.
The exhibit includes ‘well-heeled’ 18th Century shoes which back then referred to someone of wealth, a saying still in use today to describe the rich. The heel became an expression of status for ladies who could afford to be idle.
There are also flat soles and square toe shoes from 1800 to 1840 which resemble today’s ballerina slippers.
Propriety shoes from 1840 to 1865 also on display were popular in the early Victorian-era when hemlines dropped to the floor and shoes became unseen. After 1860, the crooked soles were replaced by shoes made to fit left and right feet.
The exhibit features ready-to-wear shoes from 1865 to 1900, the changing tastes in shoes from 1900 to 1925, and the full view shoes of 1925 to 1950, and more.
The footwear is being displayed around the mall in box-window displays and shoe quotes written along the sides such as the one from British-born American musician and singer Lita Ford: “Stiletto, I look at it more as an attitude as opposed to a high-heeled shoe.”
Ali Al Awanati, department manager of Ashraf’s retail fashion division, said: “In my opinion this is a great exhibition that will allow people to understand and appreciate the history of shoes; the products that they are constantly buying.
“That way if they are purchasing a shoe worth BD500 they will understand the true worth and value behind that shoe. Seeing an 1845 shoe still in good condition makes you wonder about the great craftsmanship behind it. Also, designers today are being inspired by vintage shoes and are using the ideas in their collections.”
Shoppers Basma Sharif, wearing a pair of BD150 black Tod’s shoes because they are ‘comfortable for work’, and Sarah Al Sharif, wearing a classy pair of red Valentino’s bought in the sale for BD110, who both work in the nearby East Tower of the World Trade Centre, made a stop at the exhibit on their way to lunch.
Mrs Sharif said: “This is a nice idea as I love shoes. I have so many, say about 40 or 50 and Sarah has around 30 or so.
“In my wardrobe are Tod’s, Sergio Rossi and Loubouton’s. I don’t know what it is about women and shoes but in my opinion we love them because shoes add a great finishing touch to any outfit.”
The exhibition is open to the general public until June 16 during mall hours from 10am to 10pm.
