London's V&A Museum to exhibit 140 pairs of shoes in Shanghai
Step up to the plate and cast away those flats at Shoes: Pleasure and Pain, an incoming footwear exhibition at the HKRI Taikoo Hui. Organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum – London-based leaders in art and design – the exhibition will walk visitors though the fashion, functionality, and toe-crushing discomfort of shoes through the ages.
Curated by Helen Pearson, from September 22 to November 5, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain will feature a selection of over 140 pairs of shoes, from 14th-century court dress to the edgiest designs by contemporary makers, in a story that laces together (pardon the pun) fashion and function from across the globe.
The V&A collection consists of five sections: Transformation, Status, Seduction, Creation and Obsession, exploring the extremes of footwear as both accessories and vehicles of status and social change. There will be iconic designs from Salvatore Ferragamo, Yves Saint Laurent, Zaha Hadid, and Vivienne Westwood, as well as footwear associated with high profile figures such as David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Naomi Campbell and the Queen Mother.
In Obsession visitors will get to sink their heels into the world of the shoe collector, in a section that explores the private collection of a prominent local figure, the ins and outs of which will be revealed over the coming weeks.
Shoes: Pleasure and Pain Hkri Taikoo Hui, 789 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Shimen Yi Lu. Sep 22-Nov 5. Free.
Photographs: Sinclair Communications