Museum Blog - Aaleyah Morris

The Super Elevated Ghillie Shoe!

I was extremely excited to start my course at the University of Northampton to do Fashion Marketing and I can honestly say the highlight of ‘welcome week’ for me was being able to attend the Northampton Museum and art Gallery. I knew it was a highly looked up to establishment and I could not wait to see it for myself and learn more about the fashion industry over the last few decades. I knew that the Museum would offer me so much to write about and picking one thing for me was extremely difficult as every item in the museum had such an interesting story behind it. I eventually decided that I was going to write about Vivienne Westwood and her unique idea of the ‘Super Elevated Ghillie’ shoe which she first designed in 1993 for her 'anglomania' collection.

 I decided to write about a Vivienne Westwood item as she is widely known for her different and abstract designs and whether you love or hate her or love to hate her it's no secret that Vivienne Westwood is one of the most respectable and worldwide known designers. She first designed the shoes shown in the picture on the left in 1999. I find the shoes incredibly interesting as they are known to be nearly impossible to walk in and extremely uncomfortable for wearing but yet models and designers still love to flaunt around in them. The same shoes of a different pattern (shown below) also made public headlines back in 1993 when Naomi Campbell took a stumble at a runway catwalk show, thus creating one of the most memorable fashion moments of the past.

 I have always had a keen interest in anything that Vivienne Westwood designs and although I would never be brave enough to pull off any of her creations myself I love being able to see how people interpret Westwood into their own individual style. One of the main things that attracted me to these Westwood shoes was the rarity of them, these shoes would definitely not been seen on somebody’s feet whilst they were walking down the high street and it just goes to show how wacky and uncommon her designs can be. I believe that most of Vivienne Westwood's designs are purely created to make a fashion statement and to get people talking about what she could be planning next which is why I think her designs are incredible to look at.