It is a sagebrush bark fibre sandal in the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. The Northampton Shoe Museum has a fantastic collection of antique footwear, showing just how much the shoe reflects the wearer.īut the oldest shoe in the world is not at Northampton. A conspicuous feature of women's shoes was the white kid edge, used in attaching the sole.
Appliquéd braid was widely used, or a decoration of rosettes made from ribbon, lace or looped leather. Whilst men's were made of leather, women's were mainly made of brocade, satin or embroidered silk. When researching The Lady’s Slipper I was able to indulge my appetite for beautiful footwear by researching 17th century shoes. Look at Dorothy in Frank L Baum’s The Wizard of Oz – her silver slippers (miraculously turned to glistening ruby in the film) are able to take her home with a click of her heels. So why are shoes such a potent symbol for me? It is partly because they’re a metaphor for a mode of transportation and transformation. The silken slippers with their embroidered roses speak of a life of luxury and leisure. Accustomed to wearing heavy clogs, Ella sees Alice’s butter-coloured slippers as representing everything she cannot afford. Ella the maidservant is fascinated by her mistress’s footwear.
My novel, The Lady’s Slipper, set in the seventeenth century, is about the wild flower of that name, but also about shoes. I know, they may not be to your taste, but shoes are very individual things! You can tell a lot about a person, or a character, by their shoes. For me it is a pair of shoes I got married in - black patent with black and white spotted bows on the front.
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