Objects of obsession: New exhibition charts the rise and fall of the high heel

From the fanciful footwear of the wealthiest classes to the functional mules of the down at heel, the Georgian period saw the fascination with footwear take a new prominence.

Now, an exhibition in York will pay homage to the shoe and celebrate the Georgian’s love affair with heels.

A Century of Shoes: The Rise and Fall of the Georgian Heel showcases over 100 shoes from 100 years of fashion from 1720 to 1820. It celebrates the visual splendour and dramatic forms footwear took throughout the period, and features shoes from major collections in some of the country’s most significant textile and costume museums.

The exhibition, at Fairfax House, has pieces from the Clarks Shoe Museum, Northampton Shoe Museum, York Museums Trust, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, The Prince Albert Memorial Museum and Leeds Museums, and others, and comes hot on the heels of the V&A’s major exhibition last year, Shoes: Pleasure & Pain.

The director of Fairfax House, Hannah Phillip said: “Few can ignore or at least fail to acknowledge the irresistible fascination that shoes hold. Their ability to complement an outfit, or indeed show-off a Georgian gentleman’s well-turned leg, and their endless variations in form, colour, material and decoration can satisfy the most individual of tastes.

“Whatever the reason or the attraction, shoes far from being simply a functional necessity are objects of desire, and throughout history have unquestionably held a place as one of the most lusted-after accessories.

“It is not surprising therefore that we are willing to tread a fine line between pleasure and pain in the pursuit of wearing them.”

The exhibition charts the evolution of shoe design, including how the heel rose and then fell both in popularity and size across the course of the century - from lofty heights at the start of the 18th century to the popularity of flat slippers and boots of the Regency period.

Boots, mules, slippers, and every form and fashion in footwear from this period is on display including one of the most iconic of all pieces of footwear – Wellington’s original boots, which went on to inspire the much-loved and humble Welly still worn today.

Rather than the rubber associated with the boot today, the earliest Wellington boot was made from soft yet hard-wearing calfskin leather with low cut, stacked heels and was cut to fit closely around the leg ending at mid-calf. It quickly caught on with patriotic British gentlemen eager to emulate their war hero - and is just one example of how styles of the past still influence the fashions in footwear today.

Ms Phillip said: “It is fascinating that many of the styles in fashion that we see today have their roots hundreds of years ago. We tend to think of these as modern fashions, and yet, in the kitten heels of today you can recognise the lower ‘Italianate’ heels coming in to ladies fashion from the end of 18th century.

“The shape of the toe - pointed, round, square, or the heel - excessively high or completely flat, each and every one of these novelties and vagaries of fashion has come before, and will no doubt come full circle time and again.”

Also on display at Fairfax House until June are an array of ladies shoes, including some worn by royalty, and dainty children’s and babies’ shoes, crafted with exceptional detail on a miniature scale.

High society

It MAY seem like it was all about fashion, but the heel had a somewhat more hierarchical role in Georgian society.

The height of the shoe, combined with the delicate fabrics from which they were produced, placed a form of restriction on women, preventing the wearer from unladylike or vigorous activities, and requiring her to acquire an elegance of deportment in how she moved and danced.

High heels, however, were not enough to ‘elevate’ society completely, and alongside these clogs, pattens or overshoes were worn to raise and protect luxury shoes from the muddy and filthy streets of unpaved cities.