Fashion Afoot at the Bata Shoe Museum

The BATA Museum stayed open late this week for their "'Til Ten" event, inviting in the public for an after-hours peek at its newest collection of high-fashion footwear through the ages, Fashion Afoot.

As someone who owns a ridiculous number of shoes, I was delighted to see some of fashion history's greatest footwear. The actual selection of shoes is very small, with only a few pairs from each decade, but the ones they had were worth a gander (perhaps schedule your visit for the pay-what-you-can Thursday evening?).

My favorite pair was a pale coral satin pair of pointy pumps by one of the masters, Roger Vivier from the late fifties. His buckle shoes--as worn by Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour--were iconic, so it was lovely to see some of his work up close.

There were also some strappy gold sandals from the thirties that'd look just as fresh today, along with some wacky cobalt numbers from the eighties, including a bright blue Yves St. Laurent flat with a lime-green ball perched stop the toe.

Surprisingly, almost all the shoes looked wearable for now, despite some of them being over a hundred years old. One pair of red leather and plaid tie-up booties won a prize at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, but are right in line with the oxfords in fashion for this fall. Same goes for the menswear-inspired black-and-white spectators.

Just goes to show that great style is truly timeless.

Photos by Jennifer Kavanagh