Shoes with Souls
Utility and Beauty. Style and Safety. Our shoes say a lot more than you think
Christian Louboutin once said: “A shoe isn’t only a design…it’s a part of your body language.” Nowadays, Louboutin is synonymous with style, but there was a time when shoes had nothing to do with style. They were functional items to protect our ancestors’ feet. So, how did something that was originally utilitarian become a symbol for beauty?
In If the Shoe Fits, currently at the Strathmore Mansion, Harriet Lesser explores this question. “This exhibit examines, extends, transforms, and informs our ideas about shoes as art,” Lesser says, “and art as shoes.”
Lesser believes humans have a genetic affinity for aesthetics. “When we first made bowls,” Lesser says, “the first thing we did was decorate them. Why? They would have held the soup regardless. I think attraction to beauty is in our nature.”
The exhibit gathers work from twenty-three artists, each with their own approach to the theme of footwear. Joyce Zippener embraces the inflexibility imposed on women in their shoes by crafting heels out of metal and wood. Austrian-born Carolin Holzhuber embraces leather, making shoes that look organic and chimerical.
While the exhibition features many heels, they aren’t the only style on display. The work of Anne Marika Verploegh Chasse and her students are masterpieces of bespoke boots and original oxfords just for men. And Ruth Pettus uses shoes as an illustration of where the wearer has been, and where they are going.
The exhibit deconstructs footwear to challenge the viewer not only to look at shoes differently, but to find beauty in the mundane objects we use every day. So whether they be pumps, topsiders, or sneakers, slip on your favorite pair, and head on down to the Strathmore to catch these shoes before the last one drops.
If the Shoe Fits runs at The Strathmore Mansion at 10701 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 until Sunday, May 31st. The Gallery is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Wednesdays from 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; and Sundays from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. They are closed on Mondays. Admission is free to the public. Visit strathmore.org.
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