São Paulo – Ancient shoes from Iraq and Morocco are part of an exhibition taking place in Canoas Shopping, a shopping centre in the city of Canoas, in Rio Grande do Sul. The exhibit is called "Shoes, art and fetiche" and includes a collection of shoes belonging to Danish photographer Linda Conde, which includes 100 shoes from last century. The collection includes footwear from several countries, like Morocco and Iraq, among others, as well as from other parts of the world, like Alaska, the Netherlands and India.
From Morocco there are several samples, like slippers made out of synthetic embroidered fabric, a pair of shoes in brown and beige, also embroidered, for use at weddings, as well as a pair of babouches with leather soles, with uppers in blue cotton satin, embroidered with golden threads.
From Iraq, the shoes shown are closed, with golden threads. They are folkloric shoes from the countries and are exhibited in chronological order, from 1900 on. The exhibition is based on book "The History of Shoes of the XX Century", by Linda.
Apart from the historic shoes, the exhibit also includes shoes by personalities, like singer Cher, tennis shoes worn by Bjorn Borg and ballet shoes worn by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Greet Vinckier. Apart from the collection, the exhibition includes photographs that illustrate the history of shoes and curiosities about the garments. Also shown are figures about the process for production of shoes, from the tanning of the leather, to collection of pairs in packages for sales on the retail market.
There are also models created by world-renowned shoe designers like Fernando Pires, Charles Jourdan, Channel and Cristian Dior, among others. The exhibition began on August 26 and should end on September 30. It may be visited, for free, during the working hours of Canoas Shopping, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm.
The shopping centre where the exhibition is taking place has 149 shops and a built area of 38,900 square metres. The enterprise receives around 860,000 people each month and is one of the main shopping centres in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. Canoas Shopping has been in operation for 11 years and generates 1,800 jobs. The main investors in the shopping centre are Federal Savings and Loans Bank Employees’ Foundation (Funcef) and company Agro Territorial Andrade Ltda.
Service
Exhibition "Shoes, art and fetiche"
At Canoas Shopping, av. Guilherme Schell, 6750, in Canoas
From 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
Admittance is free
*Translated by Mark Ament
