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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Shoes, shoes and MORE shoes...

Now, this may sound strange, but if you ever get the chance, you absoloutely must go to the Bata Shoe Museum. It is a complete history of shoes, dating back 4,500 years...
...but first a pint and a bite to eat to fortify us on our journey.(Not to mention figuring out where it is exactly).
Through these doors are hundreds of pairs of shoes from a collection of over 10,000.
Eat your heart out Imelda Marcos!
These early flip flops had an air space below the main platform which, when walked upon, would 'poof' out scents of perfume kept in the lower chamber.
Yeah, gold studded flip flops.
4 inch long shoes for the bound feet of the elite Chinese women.
A shoe for every purpose...these for crushing chestnuts.
These for gliding down frozen canals...
There are even gumboots for cows!
And lovely suede booties for dogs in the snow.
These are called 'smugglers clogs', so named for the bottoms which are carved to look as though you've been walking in the opposite direction...they were used during WW2 to fool the Germans.
Has anyone seen Cinderella?
How about Elton John?
I fell in love with this sweet pair from the '20's.
Amazing beaded moccasins...
As well as intricate embroidery.
The original platform shoe. 
This is where the term 'putting a lady on a pedestle' must have come from.
I think I saw someone at the disco in the '70's with a pair of these once.

The things one does in the name of fashion.

1 comment:

Linda said...

That is quite the collection of shoes. I live very close to Batawa ... where the Bata shoe factory was. The twon was built around the factory.