Shoe Heaven

I had some time to kill between yesterday’s morning show and the start of the United Way lunch servitude in the Rogers Campus so I toodled off to the Bata Shoe Museum. I’ve always wanted to go.  Talk about cool and cruel shoes!

It’s not what I thought it was.  The Bata Shoe Museum (Bloor West at Huron) is 4 floors of footwear from through the ages.  There are Chinese booties worn by women centuries ago, whose feet were bound to keep them from growing.  There are massive over-boots that protected the legs of spear hunters and silver platform flip-flops donned by Kings, rigged up so flower-infused water would spurt out onto their toes with every step.  Napoleon’s silk stockings are on display as are Mike Myers’ suede shoes from the Goldmember film. 

It’s truly incredible that real people wore some of these amazing artifacts.  And Bata should be commended for compiling, preserving and housing these bits of human history.  Some of the intricate work is quite amazing.  I think they could stand to offer a little more rock and roll to their collection but as a historical journey, it’s quite compelling.

You don’t have to be a fashionista to enjoy the Museum.  Most of my fellow patrons were in couples, either tourists spending their day dodging the construction on Bloor or, like me, someone finally getting around to seeing what’s just down the street.