A detail of shoes and boots from the Identity section.

Pierre Cardin, man’s shoes, 1986. Gift of Richard Martin.

Dr. Martens, boots, 2000. Gift of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Nike, Air Jordan sneakers, red, white, and black leather, 1985, USA. Gift of Nike, Inc.

A selection of shoes in the Identity: Sneakers section.

A view of the Magic: Shopping section of the exhibition, featuring 21st-century shoe styles.

The Museum at FIT, New York, presents Shoes: Anatomy, Identity, Magic, an innovative exhibition that explores our physical, social, and psychological relationship with footwear. Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, MFIT director and chief curator, and Colleen Hill, curator of costume and accessories, the exhibition features more than 300 of the 5,000 pairs of shoes, boots, sandals, and sneakers in the museum’s permanent collection, aka “the closet.”

“The ‘embodied turn’ in fashion studies has brought renewed attention to the intimate relationship between body, dress, and sense of self,” explains Steele. “We are inviting visitors to ask themselves, Shoe are you? Hence our three, somewhat mysterious-sounding themes of anatomy, identity, and magic.” Each theme explores the power and allure of shoes through the Museum’s exceptional collection.

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated book, Shoes: The Collection of The Museum at FIT, edited by Valerie Steele and Colleen Hill, with a preface by Daphne Guinness, published by Taschen.

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