Three weeks ago, I visited the Mode Museum (Momu) Fashion Museum in Antwerp to see the Footprint Exhibition. Some 600 pairs of footwear have been loaned to Momu by shoe collectors Eddy Michiels and Geert Bruloot along with others from the archives of designers, collectors and international museums.
The exhibition is aimed at highlighting ‘The Tracks of Shoes in Fashion,’ and focuses on “a journey through the history of shoes.” The exhibition includes the work of Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Vivienne Westwood, Christian Louboutin, Prada, Patrick Cox, Manolo Blahnik, Roger Vivier and Maison Margiela just to name a few.
It was refreshing to see a fashion-related exhibition and more so one which showed the evolution of shoes over such distant fashion time frames. I feel shoes today have taken up more of a utilitarian design theory as opposed to an artsy one. Shoe and fashion designers are now more prone to curb their creative talent and focus on profits and demand. Designer collaborations with celebrities seem to sell more than real design talent. l think the digital age has significantly contributed to this behaviour, as consumers popularise certain trends making certain items ‘cooler’ to post on social media.
The turbulent fashion industry also, isn’t very forgiving towards shoe and fashion designers who really want to take risks. Many designers today prefer to stay in the safe zone for the sake of financial security. In my opinion, there have only been a few new designers who seem to challenge status quo with the notion that “anything can be a shoe.” Two of my personal favourites are Charlotte Olympia and Sophie Webster.
I was reminded by the exhibition that, like jewellery and hats, shoes also carry some amount of expressive value and inspiration; or should I say used to. They can make or break an outfit and like any good handbag, they help with keeping your look balanced. How much should one really pay for balanced a look though? Many of the shoes being created aren’t really that iconic; just mere design copies and repeats from the legends. I think wedged sneakers are the most iconic type of shoes in recent times.
I am not quite sure I will be ever be okay with splurging on shoes as much as I do on clothes. The replication of popular shoe trends by fast fashion brands like Topshop and Zara somehow waters down the need to see them as art and the need to spend so much money on them. To add insult to injury, only a few designers today are really even challenging shoe artistry, which is quite different to fashion. It makes you wonder if shoes are even deserving of so much expressive and emotional value.
Fashion exhibitions are good to attend, nevertheless. They allow you to get a better grasp of how things can evolve, be manipulated and influenced. I don’t personally see much artistic value in shoes; maybe because the fashion industry has treated shoes—and now more than ever—as utilitarian. It was good to see it as a form of art, however.
