Roger Vivier’s Eyelash Heel pump from fall ’12
Photo by courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology
If you’re shoe obsessed or just a lover of shoes, you will have to check out the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) Shoe Obsession exhibition.
Shoe Obsession, an exhibition that examines our culture’s ever-growing fascination with extravagant and fashionable shoes. In fact, designer shoes have overtaken “It” bags as the most coveted fashion accessories. In response, shoe departments in major department stores have undergone significant expansions, and the “great designer shoe wars” have escalated. Shoes by established designers such as Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin continue to be bestsellers, while the number of rising stars within the footwear industry is multiplying. Over the past decade, heels have reached new heights —as have prices. High-heeled shoes—thefashion shoes of the 21st century—have become so tall that even a 4-inch heel is considered “low.”
The Shoe Obsession exhibition, on view from February 8 to April 13, 2013 will feature approximately 150 examples of contemporary footwear, highlighting the extreme, lavish, and imaginative styles that have made shoes central to fashion.
Photo courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology
The popularity of designer shoes has grown rapidly. Little more than a decade ago, appreciation of Blahnik’s feminine, elegant designs was limited primarily to fashion insiders. Then the style-conscious characters on the popular television series Sex and the City were presented as obsessive about his shoes, and Manolo Blahnik became a household name. Shoe Obsession will include a pair of Blahnik’s rhinestone-buckled, silver D’Orsay shoes—a version of which was used in a 2003 Sex and the City episode titled “A Woman’s Right to Shoes.”
Although the average American woman owns about 20 pairs of shoes, the collections of true shoe fanatics are vast. Shoe Obsession will feature shoes from women with incredible collections. Jewelry designer Lynn Ban owns 20 pairs of heels by Azzedine Alaïa, as well as three pairs of Prada’s fall 2012 “flame” shoes, examples of which will be featured in the exhibition. Baroness Monica von Neumann, whose love of exquisite high heels was outlined in the 2011 documentary God Save My Shoes, will be represented by styles from eminent luxury brands such as Gucci and Hermès. Daphne Guinness—one of today’s most influential style icons—will also lend a selection of her heels, including extreme examples by Alexander McQueen and Nina Ricci.
Photo courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology
Shoe Obsession will be co-curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, and Colleen Hill, associate curator of accessories, together with Fred Dennis, senior curator of costume.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a book, also titled Shoe Obsession, published by Yale University Press. In addition to essays by Steele and Hill, the book will feature more than 150 color photographs of exceptional 21st-century shoes. All royalties from sales of the book will benefit the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Photo courtesy of Fashion Institute of Technology
If there is any pair that I’m dying to see at the shoe obsession exhibition it’s this pair, the 18-inch pink Lady Pointe ballet slippers by Noritaka Tatehana. I mean wow, just wow!
Shoe Obsession Exhibition
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, NYC
February 8 to April 13, 2013
Museum Hours: Tuesday-Friday, noon-8 pm; Saturday, 10 am-5 pm. Closed Sunday, Monday, and legal holidays.
Admission to the show is free and open to the public.
