Sky-high, ornate, and the pinnacle of glamour, both restrictive and liberating, art object and deeply ordinary, shoes tell the story of shifting attitudes toward desire, power, and wealth throughout history. Lace up for a journey through the most enviable shoe closet from the permanent collection at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology—and four centuries of fashion’s hardest working accessory.
Featuring designs from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, Chanel, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Roger Vivier, Christian Louboutin, and more, Shoes A–Z. The Collection of The Museum at FIT celebrates fashion’s most revolutionary and coveted labels with more than 400 styles selected from the Museum’s pristinely preserved collection. Texts from Daphne Guinness, Valerie Steele, Colleen Hill, and The Museum’s expert team of curators explore the unique legacy of each of the featured designers and the lasting cultural impact of the shoe. Also featured are custom portraits of the designers by illustrator Robert Nippoldt. Exclusive access to original sketches, advertisements, and photographs from the designers’ private archives further illuminate the genius behind the functional, sculptural delights we cannot live without.
Also available as Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies, including three prints by Manolo Blahník created exclusively for this edition with a hallmark stamp. The 6/8 color drawings are printed on 100% cotton paper, by famed Italian company Fabriano, and are housed in a luxury portfolio with gold foil embossing and with a ribbon closure.
Colleen Hill is senior curator of costume at The Museum at FIT. Since joining MFIT in 2006, Hill has curated or co-curated more than a dozen exhibitions, including Fairy Tale Fashion, Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the 90s, and Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities. She has authored or co-authored seven books on fashion and contributed to numerous other publications.
Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT and founding editor of Fashion Theory. Described in The Washington Post as one of “fashion’s brainiest women” and by Suzy Menkes as “the Freud of fashion,” Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D.) with a rare ability to communicate with general audiences. As author, curator, and editor, Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies.
Robert Nippoldt is a German illustrator and book artist known for various publications and stage programs about the 1920s, as well as drawings for The New Yorker and Time magazine. He has received over two dozen awards worldwide, including from the Art Directors Club in New York and the International Design Award in Los Angeles.
Robert Nippoldt is a German illustrator and book artist known for various publications and stage programs about the 1920s, as well as drawings for The New Yorker and Time magazine. He has received over two dozen awards worldwide, including from the Art Directors Club in New York and the International Design Award in Los Angeles.
