Style: September 07, 2018

STYLE | travel 111
Right: Bata Shoe
Museum in Toronto.
Below: 18th century
Indian Paduka, on
permanent exhibition at
the Bata Shoe Museum.
FIRST PERMANENT FASHION
MUSEUM FOR FRANCE
It’s a little surprising, mais non, to learn the
capital of fashion is only getting its first-ever
permanent fashion museum next year.
The vaulted basement of the Palais Galliera
in Paris, pictured right, the regular venue for
the City of Paris Fashion Museum’s temporary
exhibitions of its collection, is currently closed
for an 18-month renovation to double its gallery
space, sponsored by the House of Chanel.
When the galleries reopen in December
2019, they will be named the Gabrielle Chanel
Rooms and display, all year round, items from
the Museum’s collection of 200,000 garments,
accessories and documents dating back to the
18th century.
Images © 2018, Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada
4500 YEARS OF FOOTWEAR
As Carrie Bradshaw declared, “You can never have too many
shoes.” It’s a sentiment shared by the founder of the Bata Shoe
Museum in Toronto, Sonja Bata, who added one last pair – 18th
century heels – to her 13,000-strong treasure trove just before
her death, aged 91, in February this year. Her collection represents
every culture in the world, from ancient Egyptian sandals to 16th
century Italian platform heels called chopines, chestnut-crushing
clogs from France, bear fur shoes for Japanese samurai and shoes
worn by 20th century celebrities (a pair of Shaquille O’Neal’s size-
22 sneakers are parked here).
A Manolo Blahnik retrospective is currently showing alongside
the fascinating permanent collection at the Bata Shoe Museum.
A temporary exhibition only, time your visit before it finishes on
January 6, 2019.
Just a two-hour sojourn from Paris on the
Normandy coast in Granville, you’ll find the
Christian Dior Museum. It presents almost 60
haute couture dresses, as well as accessories,
numerous archival documents and personal
possessions of Christian Dior in his childhood
home, a grand clifftop villa.