Shoes: Pleasure and Pain

Review - 'Shoes: Pleasure and Pain'

"How beautiful are thy feet with shoes" - Songs of Solomon 7:1-9

With the current storm revolving around the V & A and the 'Savage Beauty' collection, the emphasis on this display has been relatively minor. However, the exhibition on shoes, pleasingly, was exceptional. With the wide variety from several different time periods, the single shoes were cleverly grouped in titles such as; 'Status', 'Seduction', and 'Obsession.' All together implying how a single shoe can determine you as a person and your place within society, meaning you have to suffer to proclaim statements such as; 'All eyes on me', 'Follow me', and 'Im in high society'.

"A Scarlet Woman" 

From the collection named 'Seduction' these shoes have been displayed following their racy burlesque performances in Sweden in 1900-1930. The heeled boot allows the wearer to walk erotically, with an arched back and swaying hips, all together creating this fetish ideal for the watcher of one of these shoes - 'shoes equal sex'. The boots themselves are gilded leather with leather, the ornate gilded applique with a jug top, is delicately studded with 24 gilded open work buttons. Kindly lent from a collection in Toronto, this pair of boots strikingly demonstrates the different signals sent from shoes.

"War-Time Glamour"

Unfortunately I do not have a photo to display.

This furry Ocelot fur boot from 1943, was made in Kensington from a fur coat during rationing, for the simple 'must have' of a fashionable boot. The desire was all that mattered and drove the creating of this rather stylish, and even now fashionable boot. The roll over fur boot, is supported but a red leather thick sole and triangle heel, additionally with an outside zipper and a red leather tassel to finish. The boot is a clear cut example of 'desire', having to keep up your status, even in times as awful as World War two.

"Invisible Nakedversion"

This time from 'Obsession', these shoes demonstrate modern technology's influence, hinting at how the obsession has grown so big that we need to find more and more ways to satisfy the demand. The 3-D printed shoes is made from leather and synthetics, and is from the outside a printed skeleton wedge, with a blocked toe, back and sole. A simple V embodies the front. However on the inside, a naked pump is seemingly suspended within the shoe, creating an effortless look. The shoe is from Brazil, made in 2011.

The exhibition, luxuriously displayed in purple, neatly describes the aesthetics around shoes and different examples, as well as some notably famous designs. With the projected videos of the making of shoes to round of the performance, 'Shoes: Pleasure and Pain' is definitely a must see for all fashionistas, as well as anyone interested.