Curator Danielle Charlap was so intrigued by the discovery of a 1946 X-ray Shoe Sizer within The Wolfsonian-FIU museum’s collection that she imagined an exhibition surveying shoe artifacts and icons of innovation. The result is Foot Notes: Shoes, Symbolism & Society, an exhibition at The Wolfsonian that delves into themes of design, representation, sociopolitical context, and footwear equipment in the early 20th century. Ominous World War II Nazi army boots juxtapose Jeremy Scott-designed gold Adidas JS Wings 3.0 sneakers, loaned from the Miami Shoe Museum. A lithograph poster for Bally’s wooden-sole Pergola sandal, conceived by Swiss artist Hans Aeschbach, meets a vintage Bullock’s Wilshire department store metal shoe display.
Each of the 150 objects has been selected for its story. Charlap shares the poignance of a pair of black satin heels, “As women’s fashion shifted to uncorseted silhouettes in the 1920s, new raised hemlines meant more attention to heels. Specialist makers responded using celluloid to wrap wooden heels and make them decorative at a more affordable price.”
Salvatore Ferragamo (Italy, 1898’s-1960), designer, Rainbow, 1938. Suede, gilded leather, leather and cor
Photo Courtesy Of Museo Ferragamo, Florence
Highlights also include a historic pair of 1938 rainbow platforms created by Italian design master Salvatore Ferragamo for actress and singer Judy Garland on the eve of her debut of the song “Over the Rainbow” in “The Wizard of Oz.” These materially savvy wedges bypassed wartime metal shortages.