Alter
Alter
Throughout history, we have changed what we wear and our look to fit with changing fashion trends and our environment. The shape of the wearer’s body has been adapted through corsets or stays which reduced waists and enhanced busts, while bustles have exaggerated hips.
Often these alterations have been created by accessories hidden under the garment itself.
Object in focus:
Concealed shoe
Written piece by Elizabeth Turner, Look Again project volunteer
One day during building work to convert the dairy cottage on the Heale estate, three single shoes were discovered beneath floorboards. Of the three shoes found, two were donated to the museum in 1974.
Unlikely to have been left under the floor as an act of carelessness, the concealed shoes likely represent a folk tradition that spans at least 600 years.
Ladies’ shoes, 1730s, ©The Salisbury Museum collection
One theory as to why shoes were hidden in homes and buildings suggests that the shoes’ ability to mould to the wearer’s foot imbued it with their spirit and would ward off evil.
This idea of shoes taking on their owner’s shape is especially true of straight lasted shoes with no left and right, which were commonplace until the mid 19thC.
There is also similar evidence that shoes were a symbol of good luck, so perhaps a blessing rather than defence.
What I really love about these items is their human connection; they are rooted in folk tradition but also give us glimpses into the lives of the anonymous women who wore them. The shoes themselves would have been new sometime before 1740, fashioned from wooden heels and cream silk brocade uppers.
Decorated with exotic green palm fronds and pale pink floral sprigs respectively, they would have belonged to a fashionable woman of some means.
Textiles were expensive and treasured, as evidenced by the careful darning lovingly carried out by one former owner.
Finding her feet a little too wide for the incredibly narrow sole, years of strain and wear had finally caused the silk to tear.
Patched and repaired, they represent the changing bodies and fortunes these shoes have seen.
Young person’s drawing, Ladies’ shoes, 1730s, ©The Salisbury Museum collection
I believe it is the layers of history and human stories instilled within an item we so often take for granted that make it fascinating. The survival of these shoes in itself is miraculous, and I think it makes them one of the most interesting items in the fashion collection.
By Elizabeth Turner, Heritage Volunteer from the Arts Society and Look Again project volunteer.