Extraordinary footsteps: an intriguing major exhibition at MoMu in Antwerp

Enchanting and seducing objects of desire, at times playful, surreal, amazing, menacing or reassuring, shoes have the extraordinary ability of transforming any outfit and at the same time of conveying emotions and feelings connected to memory, to the past, to the present, to an immediate or distant future.

The multiple and multilayered different roles played by shoes are beautifully and carefully explored in ‘Footprint: the Tracks of Shoes In Fashion’. The magnificent major exhibition examines how shoes have been designed and created by following unexpected incredible flights of fancy and by fully embracing an completely unbridled imagination.

As a matter of fact, the starting point of the exhibition is the principle that “anything can be a shoe”. A principle that is made perfectly clear by the display of 200 pairs from the extensive Bruloot-Michiels collection, the labour of love of Geert Bruloot and Eddy Michiels who have been collecting extraordinary footwear over the course of more than thirty years. And by more than 500 examples from the archives of a great number of designers and brands, from other museums across the world and from numerous private collections.

A number of hats, garments and other items from the extensive MoMu archives complete the exhibition which is organised in different areas dedicated either to specific themes, like, for example, Space Age, Ballet, Tribal, Surrealism, Baroque, Pop, Rebellion, Architecture, or to specific designers such as Manolo Blahnik, Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Louboutin, Pierre Hardy as well Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeuelemeester, A.F.Vandervost. On show also a terrific selection of extraordinary shoes by the likes of Prada, Thierry Mugler, Miharayasuhiro, Helmut Lang, Vivienne Westwood, Fendi, Maison Martin Margiela, Paco Rabanne, Benoît Méléard and all the other most important designers in the world.

The not-to-be-missed exhibition is at the prestigious Mode Museum in Antwerp, Belgium until the 14th of February 2016.