The Red Ballet Shoes

Northampton's Museum and Art gallery was filled with many incredible shoes, however the shoes that really caught my eye had to be the red ballet shoes that were worn by Moira Shearer in the movie 'The Red Shoes'. It is known that 25 pairs of red ballet pointe shoes were made for the movie however the pair in the photo were never worn (hence why they are such great quality!) 

The ballet shoes really stuck out for me as I used to do ballet myself and it always amazed me how elegant dancers looked in pointe shoes and how they can dance on tip toes. 

Red is renown for many meanings - lust, danger, threat or possibly obsession? But these shoes had the meaning of danger as the shoes when worn take on a life of their own and in the movie, they lead Moira Shearer (who plays the character Vicky) to the edge of a balcony where she is pulled off and struck by a train. Once the shoes have been removed, she then dies.
Safe to say rather Moira than me having to spend the majority of the time in pointe shoes due to their crippling effect! However, if i could dance in those ballet shoes and look elegant then that would be a bonus.

 The shoes are in immaculate condition which makes them much more impressive and looks more expensive. Personally, i really like red shoes as i think they can add a dash of colour to an outfit if it was all black for example and it doesn't look cheap and tacky. Obviously the ballet shoes wouldn't be worn out in public, however the colour still draws attention to them and creates the storyline for the movie.

The Northampton museum and art gallery visit

Footwear fanatics pay attention, The Northampton museum and art gallery houses a world famous shoe collection, its is recognized nationally as a treasured and important collection playing homage to Northampton town 'cobbler town' being known for its shoe making history. The museum exhibits and celebrates that art of shoe making using fascinating interactive visual and interactive displays.

The museum showcases collections from a wide variety of cultures and era's, as well as iconic shoes and styles relating to films or performing. 
 The collections and gallery have the ability to engage and inspire every genre of audience that visits.From Queen Victoria's satin ribbon wedding shoes when she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the Chapel Royal St. James. Also featured are the boots worn by Elton John himself in the 1975 Rock opera film 'Tommy' as well as classic shoes such as JuJu jellies who still produce the shoes in Northampton and have done for over 25 years now, which have recently become extremely popular in the media and on the high street in the summer months.

On the 19th of October I had the valuable opportunity to take a look around the museum and gallery and explore the gallery and archive, containing and excellent resource of factual information on shoe making and shoe traditions and generations. I enjoyed finding out about the different and unique shoes and exploring deeper into the stories behind them.

When looking round the museum's shoe collection several areas caught my eye, I particularly liked the 'Red alert' red shoes collection showcasing several different attractive red shoes, the stand really popped caught my eye, it presented several different iconic red shoe designs and displays the contrasts between different shoes and I noticed how the red can be used to create a certain mood depending on the style, material and purpose.

Education and entertaining, Northampton museum and art gallery preserves the fading art of shoe making inside it, It is undeniably worth a visit if you hold an interest in shoes, and its down to you to decide.....which shoe would you like to wear?

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

                                                  

                               Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

Are you the person that really love shoes? Are you the person that would like to know more about different type of shoes past ? Northampton Museum and Art Galerry is the right place. As many people know Northampton has a great history for shoe manufacturing. People from all over the world visit this museum in order to see how many different shape,high, lenght  shoes can be.Thats why it is not surprising why there are so many good reviews about this place.

When you first walk inside you enter into a bright , sky color foyer with delicate white stairs and brown leather  armchairs . Walls are  decorated with great people such as Marilyn Monroe ,Mahatma Gandhi , William Rossi quotes.From there you can choose to go three ways...

Upstairs you can find a wonderful exibition from stone age to age when shoe manufacturing in Northampton was very popular.How rooms, shoe shops, clothing,tools looked like. On your way out you can try local poeple clothing from old times and take a picture with them as well.Going back down stairs , there is fascinating room with exibition of clothing, scooters from around 1960`s.At the same place there is gift shop where you can treat your self with tea or coffe and buy trifle to a friend or family.When you pass to another room , you feel like you traveled through time. 1960`s – 1990`s music makes you really feel into that times.Shoes from the film “The Red Shoes”,local person- Jeffrey West shoes, fetish collection and more.

The last but not least area is with shoes from  differnt parts ,centurys of the world. Memorable men`s and women`s shoe fetish collection. How in one`s own way there are unique. Great attraction for younger generation , they have a chance to try shoes from various places of the world.Also fascinating collection of removable heels with swarovski`s for posh ladys.Furthermore , people who have no clue how shoe making works , there is a seperate room with display of people working in fabrics photos and equipment which were used to make marvelous shoes in city of Nortampton.

To all the people that are intrested in fashion, shoes, history or is just curious to know more about shoe manufacturing history have a chance to come to Northampton Museum and Art Gallery to see them selves how amazing it is. 

Mock Croc's by Vivienne Westwood

Northampton Museum and art gallery famous for the largest collection of shoes and history of footwear is home to many incredible and outstanding pairs of shoes. Throughout various historical times and from several famous designers, the museum has kindly purchased many amazing pairs of shoes for our viewing. The pair that most caught my eye when looking through the collections was the “Super Elevated Ghillie Shoe”, Designed by Vivienne Westwood.  Known for her statement fashion and eccentric ideas these shoes are only one item in the many collections of hers that could be described as extravagant.

Next to the green mock crocodile super high heels is a quote from Vivienne Westwood herself “Slightly Uncomfortable footwear exaggerates the posture and forces people to question how they walk” and question how you will walk in these sky high heels is very true. The heel measures at 9 inches and the platform at the front is 4 inches even though the 4 inches at the front may offer some more support and the laces may help bring in some sturdiness our guess is that when wearing these shoes Vivienne’s idea of you questioning how you walk comes into play big time. Would you come up with a new method of trying to walk as normal in possible in them or just stick to how you walk in any other pair of platforms? As we can see these aren’t just any type of platforms there super elevated platforms.

Even the best of us struggle to walk in these super enhanced shoes when Naomi Campbell famously fell on the runway modelling this footwear in Paris 1993. It was the purple version of the one’s that we see in the museum but anyone who has seen the clip of her falling over our heart goes out to her and the shoes look more than impossible to walk in.  So if even iconic supermodels can’t walk in these shoes maybe it is safer that they stay on show in Northampton’s Museum and art gallery as we all don’t want to be falling over trying to walk in them. 

For all Shoes Lovers don't miss
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery 

Each one of us want to step out and make a change in life but we wont be able to do that without the right shoes, as Marilyn Monroe said “give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world”. A lot of people tried to make themselves a shoe print through wearing different types of foot wear in different trends which changes a lot through time depending on the life style and interests. 

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery has a huge collection of historical, modern and creative collections of different footwear. It’s an opportunity for shoes lovers to have a look and experience the trier section and try to put some heals on. 

It is a chance to visit the museum, which contain 12,000 amazing shoes from different types of brands and shoes makers around the world. It feels like fairy tells because each section have a story to talk about from a specific period of time.

No matter what you are wearing nothing can present your confidence and power like the red perfect shoes. It gives attention to your steps and shows that you can face the world. Who knows the mining of having red shoes in their wardrobe should visit the red shoes section. It shows the attraction with some sentences to describe the importance and the history of the colour when it related to foot wear. 

No pain no gain!! It’s the price of keep glamour and beauty. High heels made the ladies look prettier and gorgeous and its give a better figure. However, walking or dancing on those heals will be so hard but its not for females who want to show that they are on the trend at that period of time.

By: Maryam AL Khusaibi

The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery
As a lover of anything related to fashion I knew that the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery was going to be something that I was going to enjoy. Looking round the museum there were a hundreds of pairs of shoes from different eras including Queen Victoria’s wedding shoes. Out of all the shoes there was to view, there was one particular pair of shoes that caught my eye, they were a pair of blue silk carriage boots from 1885, with a fur lining and intricate stitching details.

 

 

These boots intrigued me so after going home I decided to do some more research on carriage boots and found that the boots would usually have slit down the middle for ease of access and to make it quicker for the wearer to slip their feet in. Theses boots are made from blue brocade silk, with silk ribbons that were used to tie the boots in place.

Boots like this would have been worn by a lady on a chilly evening whilst in a carriage on her way to or from a ball or dinner party. The beautiful evening shoes that she would have been wearing previously would have been replaced with a more practical yet equally as beautiful pair boots like these with a fur lining to keep her feet warm during her journey.

With the research I did I found that carriage boots would usually be would usually be quite simple with little to no embroidery, so these boots are unusual in the sense that they had embroidery on the toes and front of the boots. I found it intriguing how much work went into a pair of boots that would only be worn in a carriage that very few people would see. In times of no central heating I see how boots like this would be essential for women, and no woman would refuse the chance to buy another pair of shoes!

The Northampton museum and art gallery is definitely a place that I would revisit to see what new gem you can find. For any woman or man with an interest in fashion or shoes or want to gain some inspiration it’s a must have place to take a trip to and I can’t wait for my next visit.

Overview of the stores.

Have you ever wondered how old shoes looked? What fabric was used to make them? How heavy or light they where? Where they made for people with big feet or small? Which colours where used the most in the 19^th century? Well you can do that in Northampton’s Museum & Art Gallery shoe store tour.

 

 

 

The tour isn’t like any other tours. I have been into many museum tours, but this was different, and I was lucky to have the experience. First a guide told what types of shoes they have, how many, from which centuries, told me and the others in the tour a bit about the shoes. And then came the fun part. We were given white gloves and I had to wear them when I touched the shoes. Yes, in the shoe store you are allowed to touch shoes and look at them very closely. When I walked in the room where they keep all of the shoes I was surprised. The shoes weren’t displayed in shelves behind a glass door. They were in boxes in movable shelves. If I wanted to see shoes I had to rotate a handle to move the shelves just to get to the box I wanted to. Then I had to walk between the shelves and take the box of my choice. When the tour guide gave us the gloves she instructed us how we need to deal with the shoes. When you see a box you want you have to take it carefully not messing the order of the boxes. Then take the shoe out carefully and after you have looked at it you have to put it back exactly the way it was and where it was.

 

In the shoe store they have many various types of shoes from various years. They have a big collection of sneakers, Chinese shoes and every day shoes. It is very easy to find what you are looking for in the shoe store, because everything is much organised. The shoes are arranged by years and the labels of the years are on the shelves. Women’s shoes are in the boxes with red dots on them and the men’s are in the boxes with the blue dots. And on every box there is a description of the shoes that are inside the box. So you can now what type of shoes are in the box without even opening it.

 

 

I think everyone would enjoy the shoe store tour. Even if you don’t like shoes that much, or you are not interested in history, then just for the experience to wear the white gloves and being able to touch something in the museum, finally. I would definitely recommend the shoe store tour to everyone, because I had an amazing time and experience.