EXTREME FASHION:How the High Heel Began

Ever wonder where the high heel came from? Whether it is Lady Gaga or Suri Cruise, a high heel is a fashion statement, but what else does it say? Designers like Christian Louboutin, Prada, Alexander McQueen are showing shoes that are higher and more extreme. Centuries ago, women wore these heights and needed handlers to help them get around. Perhaps they do now as well.

A new shoe exhibit, “On a Pedestal” explores the social history of elevating footwear and explains why shoes have been so inexorably connected to the construction of femininity and the gendered economics of fashion then and now. It is a once in a life time show from the Renaissance and Baroque age with shoes from the most prestigious museums internationally. Some heels measuring 20 inches…

The height of the heel was and is a social barometer for the time and the woman. These looks were the beginning of the heels we buy and covet now…specifically this season.

The Bata Shoe Museum invites you to walk a mile in the shoes of fashion pioneers with the recently debuted shoe exhibit On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels. Shoe aficionados and art lovers alike can take a glimpse into the evolution of the high heel as this exhibit strolls through the rarest examples of Renaissance and Baroque footwear ever worn in Western fashion. Some of the Venetian chopines on view soar up to 20 inches in height.

According to curator Elizabeth Semmelhack, “The treacherously high heels that have come into fashion in recent years can not compare with the heights achieved by the chopines worn during the Renaissance. These shockingly high platforms literally put women on pedestals and prove that extreme fashion is nothing new.” The exhibition explores the social history of elevating footwear in the 16^th and 17^th centuries and considers why shoes have been so inexorably connected to the construction of femininity and the gendered economics of fashion then and now. The chopine’s primary purpose was to increase the wearer’s stature and proclaim her, and more importantly, her family’s status thorough sumptuous dress.

This exhibition brings together for the first time treasured artefacts from numerous renowned International museums including: Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Museo Bardini, Florence; Castello Sforzesco, Milan; Livrustkammaren and Skoklosters Slott, both Stockholm; Museo Palazzo Mocenigo and Museo Correr, both Venice; Ambras Castle, Austria; Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto as well as shoes for the Bata Shoe Museum.

Accompanying the exhibition is a full-color catalogue and an exciting series of programs. On a Pedestal will be on view until September 20, 2010.

C 2009 Bata Shoe Museum (photo: Hal Roth)