My Style Vista: Vivienne Westwood has a treat in (Selfridges) store for shoe aficionados

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Vivienne Westwood has a treat in (Selfridges) store for shoe aficionados

As if a Selfridge's Shoe Lounge, due to open in September, wasn’t enough to ignite a frenzy. Additional intrigue comes in the form of a Vivienne Westwood shoe retrospective. The exhibition, named Vivienne Westwood Shoes: An Exhibition – 1973-2010 celebrates the unique talent and design expertise of one of Britain’s most iconic fashion designers. It encapsulates the inimitable vision that the designer has sustained along with her favourable notion to not be bound by conventions.

Designs such as the extremely vertiginous blue Gillie that sent Naomi Campbell tumbling on the catwalk in 1993 are displayed. More recent creations from her collaboration with rubber designer Melissa have also taken stage along with the Pirate boots that have remained a footwear perennial since their inception in 1981.

The extensive selection of fanciful footwear will be displayed in Selfridges’ permanent arts and exhibition space The Ultralounge from August 26 to September 22 and features 200 designs spanning over 30 years of Vivenne Westwood’s career. The exhibition is a story of designs and dreams ensconced in the largest shoe emporium ever seen in the UK. It’s a not-to-be-missed manifestation of the one item that Westwood considers to be the ultimate fetish object: shoes.