Shoes

This account traces the history of footwear from the Middle Ages right up to the flamboyant styles of the late 1990s. Specially commissioned photographs highlight the elegance and beauty of embroidered shoes from the 17th and 18th centuries, and the delicate slippers worn by Victorian ladies.

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From very long pointed toes in the Middle Ages to exotic creations of the 1990s, the story of footwear is a lively and evocative reflection of styles, fashions and moments in history. In Henry VIII's time, for example, exaggerated shapes and wide toes mirrored the aggressive social climate, while engravings of Queen Victoria showed impossibly narrow slippers in pursuit of nineteenth-century ideals of daintiness.
Engravings, paintings and advertisements help to tell the story, and the specially commissioned photography reveals the glorious colours and styles in stunning detail.