The Seoul Story ~ For the ladies!

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On Saturday the 7th of November Jess and 5 friends ventured to Sungkok art musem to see: Portraits of Shoes, Stories of Feet. The exhibit was on the history of footwear & sponsored by the French Cultural Center (which I am explaining because a lot of the signs I took pictures of were in French). I won't write too much... just enough to explain what you can't see for yourself. This is really just about the shoes 😉

The exhibit was divided into 5 sections & featured 62 pairs of shoes from the 18th-21st century. The exhibit also featured pieces by artists including drawings, sculptures, videos & photographs of shoes. The five sections are: 'Rock and Roll and Baroque', 'Sport and Nature', 'Politic and Extravagancy', 'Sensual or Audacious' and 'Strangeness'. These topics cover the fun aspects of shoes (amusement and entertainment) as well as the role shoes play in social class identification, outdoor activities and practical functioning.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this exhibit. The only thing which I found unnerving was the Chinese foot binding shoe, used to bind the foot of children and keep them small. I was aware of this practice but had never seen a device used for it. The shoe was just so small...

If anyone happens to be in France (the International Shoe Museum in Romans) from December-January the exhibit will move there next, and after will feature in Saint-Petersbourg at the Russian Ethnology Museum.

I hope you can take something from the photos. Since this was about the art I styled the taking of the photos a particular way and then adapted their look. I have the originals (un-fooled-around-with) if you like.
Enjoy!
xxJess

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Photos

Chanel ~ Gun-heeled shoe
You can always count on them to make a statement & these shoes are no exception. Probably the first pair I noticed walking into the exhibit

Chanel ~ Lightbulb heel
Again, Chanel goes all the way. The heel actually has a small switch and the lightbulb flicks on (unfortunately even the woman overseeing the exhibit wasn't allowed to turn it on for us).

Insect-inspired shoes?
This shoe laces up to the thigh & is supposed to look somewhat like an insect... Interesting... and a bit unnverving

Clowning Around Shoes
They made me smile :)

Torture in shoe form
Our conversation about this pair went something like this:
"Think about how painful it would be to have your foot stuck in that position while walking around"
"Those shoes must have been invented by a man"
"The same man who invented corsets!"
"And thongs!"

Four coffees in a row...
... We weren't allowed to have them in the exhibit, but they waited for us at the front desk

It is unfortunate that you can't see all that I tried to capture here
I was really loving the changing leaves of the trees which remind me of home, along with the bamboo growing next to it...

We took an intermission in the sculpture garden...
... and look who I found!

Comments

[Tricia]

I thought it would be the sole story - sorry, I'll get my coat and leave right now!

[Jess and Fran]

Hahaha... I did actually debate the title. Sole, Seoul, Soul. It is what I love about this language!