Slap sole shoes were developed in the early 1600’s as a means to protect the shoe from sinking into the ground. It featured a 2-part system where a shoe was slipped inside a flat sole mule (backless shoe). By the mid-17th century these two components had become integral and primarily a dress staple for the […]
20 Shoes to Inspire your Halloween Costume!
In celebration of Halloween in a couple of days, here is a list of 20 shoes that may just inspire your Halloween costume this year! 1) Astronaut This astronaut’s training boot from the Apollo Space Program were worn by Jim Lovell and are on loan from the National Air & Space Museum. 2) Disco Queen […]
From the Vault: Lancashire Clogs
Take a peek into our 14,000+ collection with our new blog series, From the Vault! Every other week, we’re sharing interesting stories about one of our artefacts. What is the provenance of this pair? When did they enter the BSM collection? This pair entered the collection in 1980. They were acquired in an antique shop […]
New Acquisitions: how we acquire objects and update our collections
At the Bata Shoe Museum, we are always collecting new artefacts. We have over 14,000 objects in our archives, and this number continues to grow. One of the most common questions we are asked by visitors is where do we get our shoes from? Most museum collecting begins with a colleting mandate, which is essentially […]
Ask a Curator with Elizabeth
Last month, our curatorial team participated in the global event, #AskaCurator. In case you missed it, here’s our Creative Director & Senior Curator, Elizabeth, answering some of your questions. As John Fluevog is celebrating his 50th anniversary this year, what would you say his impact has been on Canadian and global shoe design? John Fluevog’s […]
The Great Divide and Collections Management
In August we opened a new exhibition at the Museum, The Great Divide: Footwear in the Age of Enlightenment. The curatorial team had a lot of work to make the launch a success, and some of this work was collections management based. The exhibition features a few new acquisitions, some objects borrowed from the Gardiner […]
Ask A Curator with Suzanne
Last month, our curatorial team participated in the global event, #AskaCurator. In case you missed it, here’s our Collections Manager, Suzanne, answering some of your questions. Where do you keep things not on display? The artefacts not currently on display are kept in specifically designed storage rooms. The storage rooms have environmental conditions of specific […]
From the Vault: Gutal
Take a peek into our 14,000+ collection with our new blog series, From the Vault! Every other week, we’re sharing interesting stories about one of our artefacts. What is the provenance of this pair? When did they enter the BSM collection? This pair entered the collection in 2005. They were acquired for the museum by […]
Fabricating Mannequins: Displaying Pants and Shorts (Part II)
There are two mannequin forms that were created for a pair of Inuit pants and a pair of Greenlandic shorts both on display in Art and Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the Bata Shoe Museum Collection. The exhibition designer determined that the best look would be to pass an acrylic rod through each leg. An […]
Plastics Blog – Chapter 4 – Who Are You? Plastics Identification
Guest Post 2012 By Samantha Conover Different plastics degrade according to their own particular weaknesses. Some plastics are more vulnerable to light, while others are more vulnerable to moisture. All plastics will eventually degrade, but there are particular plastics that are considered “malignant” or “bad neighbours” because their degradation can actually harm nearby materials. In […]