A new exhibition presents over 150 full colour photos of some of the most lavish, luxurious, and outlandish footwear from over the past twelve years
Many may think that the extreme heel of today is a recent development, however a new book shows that elevated heels, along with much else attributed to current footwear fashions, have been part of shoe design for over two thousand years. In Shoe Obsession, Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, and Colleen Hill, associate curator of accessories at FIT, consider the heel as fashion fixation, and the shoe itself as fetish object and artwork. With introductory essays including photos of early fetish boots and platforms, and a look at the shoe’s ascension to its current status as supreme accessory, Shoe Obsession also presents over 150 full colour photos of some of the most lavish, luxurious, and outlandish footwear from over the past twelve years.
"Shoe Obsession considers the heel as fashion fixation, and the shoe itself as fetish object and artwork"
This imaginative walk through shoe styles for a new century includes works by canonical designers such as Manolo Blahnik, Pierre Hardy, and Christian Louboutin, prominent design houses including Azzedine Alaïa, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen, and avant-garde styles by Kei Kagami and Noritaka Tatehana.
Shoe Obsession is out now, published by Yale University Press.
Text by Ananda Pellerin
Ananda Pellerin is a London-based writer and regular contributor to anothermag.com.
