WOMEN’S relationship with shoes form one of those mysterious Mars and Venus divides. Men just don’t get how heart-stopping it is to find the perfect pair – and how that thrill needs to be reignited time and time again.

For most women, shoes are much more than something to decorate their feet. Take this quote that appeared on Twitter, from seasoned fashion editor Charla Lawhon: “It may sound odd, but I tend to identify the events in my life by the shoes I wore at the time”.

Many of us will share that sentiment. Who doesn’t have heels in their wardrobe, or boxed away in the attic, that they will never wear again, but can’t throw away because of sentimental reasons.

Perhaps they were the shoes worn on a wedding day, or from the summer of discovered love.

Over at York Castle Museum, curator Katy Turner has been rifling through these very treasures to put together a new exhibit, Footsteps, featuring shoes dating from the mid-1700s to Victorian times.

Housed in the museum’s Textiles Studio, visitors can see for themselves that exquisite footwear for women is far from new. Take a close look at the embroidered leather pumps, with silk corsage detail, or the leather courts with kitten-esque heels, and you can see where modern shoe designers take their cue.

One thing soon becomes clear; women have long suffered in their pursuit of having pretty coverings for their feet.

“Shoes never followed the shape of the foot and have always been a fashion statement,” explains Katy.

“And remember, people didn’t have left and right shoes until about the 1850s; they wore ‘straights’ which they swapped regularly so they didn’t take on the shape of one foot or another.”

Ouch!

The oldest shoe on show dates from 1720 and is a fabric shoe with a clunky English heel with front buckle-fastening. “It looks grey now but was originally a silver fabric with lace trim and would have looked quite sparkly when new,” says Katy.

Time has clearly taken its toll in this instance, but most of the shoes are in remarkable condition for their age. One near-perfect example is a red satin shoe with black lace covering and a diamonté cluster at the front. It obviously wasn’t worn outside, leading to speculation that it might have been a shoe “for the bedroom”.

Politics plays a part in shoe design too, explains Katy, with heels giving way to flats at the very time aristocrats wanted to appear less extravagant.

“During the French Revolution it was perceived that lots of money was being wasted by the King and aristocracy while people in the country were starving,” says Katy.

“At that time, people didn’t want to seen to be spending a lot of money on shoes. Consequently, heels became lower and less flamboyant looking.”

Also in the collection are some children’s shoes and boots as well as examples of “over shoes” and “pattens” (a kind of circular stilt), which were worn to protect expensive and delicate footwear from the mud and grime of walking outdoors.

Shoe horns and button and glove hooks are on display too. Katy puts on a pair of white cloth gloves, for protection, and picks up a 19th-century black leather boot to demonstrate how a button hook was used to fasten them. It was too fiddly to do it with fingers, she says.

By the 18th century, adds Katy, women had started wearing boots more often. Examples on display illustrate the various fastenings in boots, from laces and buttons to elastic. Some show intricate detailing, such as delicate embroidery on the toe, and luxurious silk lining.

Enough to send any shoe lover’s heart a fluttering.

•Footsteps will run in the Textiles Studio at York Castle Museum until August 31. Entry costs £8 for adults, £7 for concessions, children go free with a paying adult. Free entry also to YorkCard holders. Find out more at yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk


In the footsteps of a giant

SHOES for men are rarely a talking point – but the lace-up of William Bradley surely has to be the exception.

Not only is it the single male shoe in the Footsteps exhibit at York Castle Museum – measuring 15 inches (38cm) in length and 5.5 inches wide, it is the largest too.

William Bradley was also known as the Yorkshire Giant. He stood at 7ft 9in tall.

Born in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, in 1787, he was the fourth son of 13 children. None of his siblings were of unusual height.

As a baby, he weighed in at 14lbs and by the age of 11 was a hefty 11 stones.

He made a name for himself as a member of Barnum’s travelling show, eventually going solo and touring the country as the Yorkshire Giant, inviting people to “meet” him at various hotels for a shilling a time.

Once he was presented to King George III, who gave him a gold chain, oversized of course.

Travelling took its toll on William’s health and he retired to Market Weighton, living in a specially-built house with high ceilings and doorways.

He died of tuberculosis aged 33. His coffin was 9ft long and 3ft wide.

A life-size wooden statue, carved in English oak, stands in Market Weighton today and the town celebrates the Yorkshire Giant’s life with a William Bradley Day every May.

Besides the giant’s leather shoe on display at the museum, visitors can stand next to a life-size drawing of him by Richard Stansfield (aka Wolf of Yorkatt fame) and measure their own feet against laminated footprints taken from his enormous shoe.