Sexy stiletto heels worn by Hollywood icons Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot and contemporary stars Cameron Diaz, Kylie Minogue and Heidi Klum go on display later this month for an exhibition dedicated to the famous shoe in the northern town of Vigevano.
Dozens of pairs of heels will take centre stage for the show at the Bertolini International Shoe Museum, which also includes photographs and design sketches as well as the machinery and raw materials involved in stiletto manufacture.
Sponosored by Milan Fashion Week organiser the Italian National Fashion Chamber (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana), the show kicks off with the first official image of the stiletto taken in 1953 at the 16th International Shoe Show in Vigevano, where the design was originally launched on the road to success.
Early examples of stilettos by Italian designers Salvatore Ferragamo and Alberto Dal Co' that once graced the feet of femmes fatales Monroe, Bardot, Sophia Loren and Lana Turner are on display together with spiky French footwear by the designers Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier, who created shoes for Marlene Dietrich.
Also on show here are prototype stilettos manufactured by local Vigevano firms such as Caimar, Waltea and Re Marcello.
The next section of the show takes a look at the heel's development from the 1980s to today, with models by specialists Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin as well as the stiletto dabblings of famous fashion houses Armani, Lagerfeld, Givenchy and Vuitton.
A special section is reserved for the Italian shoe designers who have made a splash in the last 30 years including Rene Caovilla (set to open his sixth international boutique in Beverley Hills this month); jet-setter favourite Giuseppe Zanotti, whose clients include Klum, Minogue and Diaz; and Cesare Paciotti, who has 19 international boutiques and counts Beyonce and Paris Hilton among the patrons of his agressively styled heels.
The final section of the exhibition is dedicated to cutting-edge stiletto creations by emerging shoe designers such as Frenchman Guillaume Hinfray, who makes playful use of colour and embellishments, and American Courtney Crawford, who has designed seven-inch black patent leather stilettos for Mariah Carey to wear on tour.
Vigevano was once famous as the shoe capital of Italy, with annual production during the 1960s reaching over 20 million pairs.
Its shoe museum opened in 2003 to celebrate the footwear-manufacturing history of the town and includes an example of the black wool felt 'Shoe-hat' designed by Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s in its permanent collection.
'The High Heel - Allure and Seduction' will run at the Bertolini International Shoe Museum at the Castello Sforzesco in Vigevano from 23 February until 25 May.
