Shoes
Subtitle: pleasure & pain
By: edited by Helen Persson
Contributors: Victoria and Albert Museum
Publisher: V&A Publishing
Published: 2015
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9781851778324
Subjects: History; Exhibitions; Pictorial works; Shoes
Other titles: Shoes :
Description: "Beautiful, sculptural objects, shoes are powerful indicators of gender, status, identity, taste, and even sexual preference. Our choice in shoes can be aspirational, even fantastical - and projects an image not just of who we are, but who we want to be. Feet are made for walking, but shoes may not be. Featuring extensive new photography, this is a beautiful and authoritative guide to the history and culture of footwear. Iconic creations by celebrated designers sit alongside masterpieces by unknown craftsmen in this book. Embracing both men's and women's footwear, from the Chinese lotus shoe to laser-printed contemporary shoes-as-sculpture, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain engages with the cultural significance of shoes - the source of their allure, how they are made, and the people who buy and wear them. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines consider subjects as diverse as ballet slippers and fetishism, shoes and ceramics, traditional shoemaking, and the obsessive shoe collector. The book also includes a comprehensive discussion of the history of shoe design, and case studies including Marie-Antoinette's shoe collection and the footwear of the Maharajas." --Publisher description.
Notes: Published to coincide with the exhibition of the same name, first held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2015.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 166-169) and index.
Table of contents: title: Objects of desire : the cult of shoes / Helen Persson; title: The allure of shoes. Shoes as magical objects / Hilary Davidson ; Indian shoes of gold / Divia Patel ; The allure of power / Elizabeth Semmelhack ; Status and power in the Hammam / Rowan Bain ; Shoes : a very fashionable fetish / Cassie Davies-Strodder ; Fashion and fetishism : the case of the ballet shoe / Valerie Steele ; Suffering for beauty / Rowan Bain; title: Art and innovation. Production for consumption / Giorgio Riello ; The art and craft of shoes / Helen Persson ; Case studies in creativity / Naomi Braithwaite ; The shoemaker and the ceramicist / Sonia Solicari ; Open futures / Jana Scholze ; Plastics galore / Joanne Hackett; title: Shoe obsession. The rise of the celebrity shoe designer / Cally Blackman ; Marie Antoinette : off with her heels / Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell ; Lotus steps : shoes for bound feet / Helen Persson ; Men in heels : from power to perversity / Christopher Breward ; The unnatural shapes of medieval footwear / Kirstin Kennedy ; The shoe cabinet / Karin M. Ekström; title: Parts of the shoe.