Footwear Research Networking event: 2023#1
With contributors and collaborators located all over the world, convening a meeting for the Footwear Research Network is no mean feat. Despite the challenges posed by multiple time zones, it was my pleasure last week to host the first official networking event to share research and discuss the value and future directions of the Network.
Since its relaunch in December 2021 the Footwear Research Network has seen growing interest and participation by scholars and professionals from around the world including university researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students, archivists, historians, curators, artists and designers.
During the meeting last Tuesday and Wednesday (depending on hemispheres) members discussed the value of a space where researchers with an interest in footwear can share, collaborate and meet.
Elizabeth Semmelhack, Senior Curator of Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum, explained that although footwear seems like a very specific field it is surprisingly wide ranging, yet its breadth is represented by comparatively few footwear experts. Both she and Rebecca Shawcross, Senior Shoe Curator for the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, saw the network as a valuable source of expertise and perspectives which they could draw from and collaborate with.
Other members for whom shoes are both a professional and personal pursuit shared their appreciation of the growing sense of community and connection the Footwear Research Network provides. Hilary Davidson, Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, explained it was exciting to have an opportunity to “talk with people about shoes who think about shoes and think with shoes”.
Similarly, contemporary artist Jo Cope, who uses footwear as her medium and whose work falls between the fields of fashion and art articulated the importance of having somewhere to belong or ‘fit in’. Others agreed, identifying a feeling of isolation that can come with studying a specific topic within the much broader field of fashion and dress studies. The Footwear Research Network was identified as a serious space for the in-depth exploration of shoes that counters an often frustratingly frivolous image.
Others less focussed on footwear saw shoes as an important medium to lend greater insight to their own areas of research. Professor of Sociology, Sophie Woodward at the University of Manchester outlined her interest in what shoes can tell us about our experiences of everyday and mundane aspects of material culture and identity. Her fascination with ‘ugly’ shoes was shared by UTS Research Fellow Emily Brayshaw, currently researching Birkenstocks, and myself in relation to my exploration of Clarks Originals and the appeal of ordinary, ugly and unconventional shoes.
Kath Woodward, Emeritus Professor of sociology at The Open University was interested in what shoes can tell us about the materiality of bodies, particularly the experience of sportswear in relation to sex and gender, and the transformations of bodies as they age.
Also relating to gender, Professor Andrew Groves at the University of Westminster acknowledged the growing number of shoes currently infiltrating the Westminster Menswear Archive and his desire to further engage with the topic beyond his recent research into socks and masculinities.
Following on from discussions of two current exhibitions at the Bata Shoe Museum - Future Now which explores sustainable alternatives to traditional footwear design and production, and Obsessed which addresses consumption and desire - the group agreed that sustainability would be an important focus for the Network moving forward and that more research in this area is needed.
Discussions of current and future projects with both Elizabeth Semmelhack and Nottingham Trent University’s Associate Professor of fashion Naomi Braithwaite highlighted the potential of the Network to assist with works in progress. Naomi’s impressively extensive data from her ‘Shoe and Tell’ project, which has now extended to an investigation of graduation shoes, provoked an engaging discussion that revealed the varied perspectives of network members. Elizabeth expressed her particular interest in collaborating with diverse cultural and indigenous perspectives and the Network was highlighted as a good place to publicise call-outs for collaborative research projects, linkages, exhibitions, reviews, conferences, special issues or edited collections.
Moving forward, ideas about how to enhance engagement with the Network and expand content were discussed. The Network was framed as a collaborative and participatory project and members were encouraged to think about their own contributions as well as how the Network might assist them.
It was agreed that members and external partners would certainly benefit from a way to connect with one another, for example through a database. Continued opportunities to meet at least twice per year were also welcomed by all.
Overall the event provided a fruitful, collegial and at times amusing exchange of ideas and perspectives, promising an exciting range of potential future collaborations and relationships as the field of footwear studies develops.
If you would like to enquire about becoming part of the Footwear Research Network’s growing community please email alex@footwearresearchnetwork.org. To keep up to date with news and events please use the subscription form below.
Thanks to all who participated in the first meeting, particularly to Emily Brayshaw for her assistance with facilitation and note-taking.
