Canada’s Bata Shoe Museum Brings Some Sexy “Sole” To Boston, Including Marilyn Monroe’s slippers

Canada’s Bata Shoe Museum Brings Some Sexy “Sole” To Boston, (Including Marilyn Monroe’s slippers)

Bostonians can step into Canada, a country known for its amazing and sometimes quirky experiences, from Wednesday, July 18 to Saturday, July 28 at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts (527 Tremont St.) where a free exhibit from Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum will shine on display. The Bata Shoe Museum is the largest private shoe museum in the world boasting more than 10,000 shoes from ancient Egyptian sandals, alluring platforms, and sexy high heels to more practical footwear by native North Americans such as the Inuit and Sioux.

Take a stroll through footwear history, from menacing looking clogs once worn in the 19th century in the Haute Ardeches region of Auvergne, France to crush chestnuts, to Marilyn Monroe’s red silk Boudoir Slippers (she brought them with her to modeling assignments and kept them in a props case). The shoes on display range from the practical to the absurd, from the fashionable sole to “till death do you part” accessories.

Take the double-soled zori from Japan where traditional marriages were arranged by the families of the bridal couple and sealed with an exchange of gifts which sometimes included a pair of double-soled zori to symbolize matrimonial harmony. Other shoes featured that will kick up excitement and intellectual curiosity include footwear from China, India, and the Inuit and Sioux cultures as well as decorated evening shoes with styles spanning the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

The free exhibit is brought to Bostonians by the Canadian Tourism Commission and presented under the auspices of the Bata Shoe Museum.