The Bata Shoe Museum’s latest exhibition OBSESSED: How Shoes Became Objects of Desire explores how we have become a society obsessed with shoes. Exhibiting some of the collection’s highly coveted shoes, the exhibition tells the story of how industrialization drove shoe consumption, transforming footwear designers into celebrities and shoes into high-value collectibles. 

“How we have come to be shoe obsessed is a complicated story of need, innovation, desire and opportunity and has as much to do with industrialization as it does with personal style. This exhibition explores how new ideas have inspired new shoes leading many of us to want more.” says Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum.

Designed by graphic designer Gus Aguirre, this spectacular exhibition of pre-industrial and modern day shoes is on show until April 2024.