An exhibition in Winchester showcases the use and role of footwear throughout history, revealing what it conveyed about the wearer's status. The exhibition features nearly 60 pairs of shoes and boots, including a 1,000-year-old 'skate' shoe and a 2022 Converse high-top trainer.
‘Alti’ shoes by Christian Louboutin, circa 2010, featuring the designer’s trademark red soles and a studded uppers inspired by punk rock: one of the exhibits on display at Shoes: Inside Out in Winchester .‘Alti’ shoes by Christian Louboutin, circa 2010, featuring the designer’s trademark red soles and a studded uppers inspired by punk rock: one of the exhibits on display at Shoes: Inside Out in Winchester .ou can always judge a man by his shoes, or so the old adage goes.
The oldest item is a 1,000-year- old “skate” shoe from the late Anglo-Saxon period. The most recent is a 2022 Converse high-top trainer inspired by 1920s basketball player Chuck Taylor before being sported by stars from James Dean to Kurt Cobain. The skate shoe, which would have been attached to a leather cloth wrapped around the foot, was perfect for gliding over frozen rivers and ponds in the 11th century, or for walking through snow.
The exhibition also tells the history of high heels, which originated in Assyria around 700BC, when heeled riding boots coincided with the invention of the stirrup. This enabled male soldiers to sit more firmly in the saddle while holding heavier weapons. Elizabeth I often wore high-heeled riding boots to emphasise her “masculinity”. She may have worn them at Tilbury for her pre-Armada speech: “I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king.
For hundreds of years, high heels have been a statement of power. The show includes a pair of Victorian pearl-buttoned boots, worn to titillate and dominate, as well as far more recent pairs by Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin, made famous by Carrie Bradshaw inBut the story is not always straightforward. “Conformity to gender stereotypes is sometimes blurred,” says co-curator Claire Isbester.
Shoes Exhibition Winchester Footwear History Status Skate Shoe Converse
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