Unearthing Vindolanda: Footwear from the Edge of the Roman Empire

On view May 7, 2026 until September 2027.

Discover over 100 footwear-related artifacts from Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort and settlement located just south of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England. On view for the first time ever in North America, these remarkable objects are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire UNESCO World Heritage Site which is renowned for its ongoing archaeological excavations providing unprecedented accounts of ancient life at the edge of the Roman Empire.

When archaeologists at Vindolanda began finding a wide variety of shoes, our understanding of who lived in Roman military forts and settlements was changed. Researchers had long thought that Roman military garrisons were the domain of men alone. However, the footwear unearthed at Vindolanda revealed a much more complex story as archeologists found the sandals of elite women, shoes worn by little children, as well as sturdy and practical military boots of soldiers. As excavation work continues, it is now clear that nearly 2000 years ago, a vibrant community surrounded the Roman military garrison that included men, women, and children in significant numbers. The shoes they wore offer us a rare and special glimpse into the lives they lived at the outermost edge of the Roman Empire.

Curated by Barbara Birley, Curator, Vindolanda Museum, and Elizabeth Greene, Associate Professor of Classics and Canada Research Chair at Western University. Coordinated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director & Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum, including objects from the Vindolanda Trust.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Children’s Shoe

A shoe worn by a child of around 10 to 12 years old. The stitching around the lace holes and the wave pattern on the edges of the shoe provide a decorative element to this otherwise everyday shoe. The hobnail pattern on the outer sole is a simple utilitarian configuration.
Collection of Vindolanda Trust, Mid 2nd century CE

Bath Clog

A Roman footwear style popular for use in the bathhouse was the wooden clog raised on ‘stilts’. This example was embellished with lines marking where the toes sat and the leather strap was decorated with a serrated edge and an incised geometric pattern.
Collection of Vindolanda Trust, ca. 140-180 CE

Marching Boot

The most common type of footwear worn by soldiers is the ‘Fell Boot’ with leather uppers and a line of lace holes up the front edges. There are rarely any decorative elements added to this type of boot as it was designed to be utilitarian.
Collection of Vindolanda Trust, ca. 100-105 CE

Hobnail Sole

The hobnails of this shoe are set in a decorative geometric pattern under the foot, another reminder that not all shoes were for the workday. This shoe also has a fringed edge on the upper portion, details that suggest it was used for leisure or off-duty time.
Collection of Vindolanda Trust, ca. 105-120 CE

Fishnet Military Boot

The uppers from this military boot are a style known as ‘fishnet’ because of the many small holes punched into the leather to create a decorative pattern. Further embellishment is found in the decorative shapes cut out near the lace holes and the serrated upper edge.
Collection of Vindolanda Trust, ca. 100-105 CE

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André Perugia: A Design Legend Unveiled

October 2025 to April 2027

The Bata Shoe Museum explores the work of one of the most significant and under-researched footwear designers of the 20th century, André Perugia. A pioneering Italian-French shoe designer, André Perugia (1893-1977) is known for his architecturally innovative and technically masterful footwear designs. From his first boutique in Nice in the early 1920s, he revolutionized luxury footwear, creating shoes for fashion houses like Dior and Schiaparelli, as well as for celebrity clients including Josephine Baker, Mistinguette, and Princess Lillian of Belgium. His work is preserved in major museum collections worldwide.

Throughout the run of the exhibit, over 95 examples of the designer’s work dating from the 1920s through the 1960s, will be featured; shoes from contemporary designers inspired by his vision will also be on display. This exhibition will highlight the historical importance of Perugia’s work, contextualizing it within the larger framework of fashion across the decades. It will explore some of his most important innovations, including Perugia’s contribution to the development of the articulated sole and the stiletto heel.

André Perugia is curated by Nishi Bassi and includes objects from the BSM collection, and generous loans from Musée de la chaussure Romans-sur-Isère and Fondation Azzedine Alaia. The exhibition also features donations from Maison Schiaparelli and Manolo Blahnik.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Rhinestone Shoe

In the early 1920s, André Perugia did something that no shoemaker had done before; he designed women’s evening shoes with uppers made entirely of glittering rhinestones. Newspapers and fashion magazines showered him with praise for this achievement, with one journalist writing, “Perugia has achieved the height of fantastic good taste” with these shoes. This brilliant, jewel-like pair, which likely dates from the mid to late 1920s, is representative of how Perugia approached design throughout his career: with inventiveness and luxury in mind.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

Mask Shoe

Perugia’s ‘mask’ shoe is one of his most recognizable, and often copied, designs. He first released this model in 1923, and then returned to this design multiple times throughout his career. Inspired by Venetian masks, this mule is representative of the novelty and playfulness that Perugia would increasingly engage with as his career progressed. This example is made of bronzed lizard skin and features gilded heels.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

Embroidered Gold

This pair of shoes features vivid turquoise and red embroidery. Against the shiny gold leather of the upper, the shoes are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian material culture, which inspired many designers during the 1920s. What makes this pair of sandals particularly unique is the thin turquoise bands at the base of both heels; this was a special feature of many of Perugia’s designs from this decade. It was often Perugia’s special attention to detail that set his work apart from that of his contemporaries.
Collection of Bata Shoe Museum

Red Mule

In the 1950s, Perugia designed footwear that had the visible outline or impression of the wearer’s toes. There are examples of historic French and Dutch clogs which feature carved feet in them, but Perugia was the first luxury footwear designer to make trompe l’oeil toes fashionable. This motif is one of Perugia’s most imitated, and may have inspired footwear by Vivienne Westwood, Jeffrey Campbell, and Schiaparelli in recent years.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

Blade Heel

In 1951, Perugia revolutionized footwear design by creating sandals with steel shanks, and thin steel heels, which Harper’s Bazaar described as looking “like diamond needles.” They were unlike any other shoe produced in the 1950s and were celebrated by Vogue as “the most spectacular shoe idea.” The technology and innovation used to create the “the blade heel” set the stage for the development of the stiletto later in the decade.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

Gold Boot

Throughout his career, Perugia produced footwear for notable fashion houses including Dior, Givenchy, and Paquin. Arguably, his most creative partnership was with surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Through his work with Schiaparelli, Perugia played with form and height, creating glamorous wedges, platform heels, wrap around sandals, and ankle boots. This shiny gold boot from the late 1930s is both modern and historical. The button closures reference 19th century women’s footwear, and the scalloped topline adds a more contemporary art deco twist. Perugia once remarked that his work with Schiaparelli “inspired some of his most successful ideas.”
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

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BSM programming events have been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

All About Shoes

Footwear Through the Ages

Take a fascinating journey and experience the many facets of footwear: its evolution and symbolism through the ages, the methods and materials of its manufacture and its place in our imaginations.

The BSM’s flagship exhibition, All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages, is a voyage through four and a half millennia of shoes. As well as presenting an engaging overview of the history of footwear, All About Shoes also explores the wider context of our fascinating collection.

Semi-Permanent Exhibition

Behind the Scenes: A Glimpse into Artefact Storage

The Bata Shoe Museum currently holds nearly 15,000 shoes and related artefacts, spanning 4,500 years of footwear history. This extraordinary collection is central to the museum’s mission and enables us to mount dynamic and changing exhibitions. With only four percent of the collection typically on view at any given time, the rest of our artifacts are maintained in two specially-designed subterranean vaults, which keep the collection safe and secure while facilitating research and conservation by staff and visiting scholars. This section of the All About Shoes gives you a peek into this seldom-seen aspect of the museum’s work.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Cartonnage

Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 300 B.C.E - 1 C.E
The surfaced of this rare piece of Egyptian cartonnage has been painted to draw viewer's attention to the feet and sandals of the deceased. The underside features painted sandals soles.

Mojaris

Indian, c. 1840
This pair of saffron coloured mojaris was worn by a temple dancer in Rajasthan. They feature gold zardo embroidery and the jade beads and brass bells would have created a beautiful tinkling sound when the wearer danced.

Manchu

China, c. 1880
Manchu women were forbidden to have bound feet and instead wore high platform shoes that stilted their gait and allowed them to emulate the desirable shuffling ‘lotus walk’ of women with bound feet. Although the Manchu and the Han were distinct ethnic groups within China, they shared a similar artistic vocabulary, a fact attested to by the use of similar motifs such as the butterflies that decorate the uppers of these shoes.

Chopines

Italy, 16th century
Platform footwear called chopines were a staple of upper-class women's fashion in Italy and Spain in the 16th century. In Italy chopines were made of wood and worn hidden under long dresses, while in Spain they were made of cork, highly decorated and worn visible. These chopines share similarities with both Italian and Spanish styles and comes from a part of Italy ruled by the Spanish.soles.

Chestnut Crushing Clog

France, 1800 - 1900
This menacing looking clog was worn in the Haute Ardèches region of Auvergne, France in the 19th century for the innocent task of crushing chestnuts. The chestnut was an important source of source of food for both people and animals. These peasant work clogs were tools essential to food production in the 19th century but today are fodder for the imagination

MANOLO BLAHNIK

Spanish, 2014
Spanish designer Manolo Blahnik (1942 - ) has been dedicated to the art of shoemaking since the 1970s. His work is often inspired by the elegance of the past which he translates into objects of desire for the present. This pair of Locka’s was gifted to the museum by Mr. Blahnik in 2014. It remains one of his favourite shoes of that season.

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For media requests please contact Sarah Power, Head of Communications & Marketing.
For image requests please contact Alexandra Geropoulos, Collections Manager & Registrar

Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot

On view until September 20, 2026

The story of the cowboy boot is steeped in history and legend and is neither simple nor straightforward. Since their invention in the late nineteenth century, cowboy boots have embodied contradiction. They have symbolized labor and leisure, freedom and domination, tradition and reinvention. Cowboy boots were born out of industrialization yet refined through expert craftsmanship, they have been used to both celebrate individualism and forge cultural cohesion. They were central to the closing of the West, yet endure as emblems of freedom and wide-open spaces. Over time, cowboy boots have signaled power and privilege as well as resistance and reclamation. Whether worn in the saddle, on screen, or in the streets, cowboy boots remain a cultural touchstone, embodying both tradition and transformation in a constantly changing world.

Rough & Ready is curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, including objects and artworks from the BSM collection and 13 lenders. Lenders include: Adam Goeglein, Autry Museum of the American West, Barry Ace, Erik Semmelhack, Flora Knight, The Glenbow-Alberta Institute, Jamie Cuevas Nudie, Lee Miller, Lisa Sorrell, Lucchese Bootmaker, Orville Peck, Sarah Madeleine T. Guerin, and Tony Benattar.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Peter Max x Randy Shoes sneakers, c. 1969–1971

In the late 60s / early 70s, artist Peter Max was arguably the most influential artist in the Western world. His psychedelic artwork was uplifting, counterculture in feel, and yet extremely marketable. By 1969, he had over 50 commercial licensing agreements. This pair of high tops features Max’s style, including his signature smiling mouth.

Peter Max x Randy Shoes sneakers, c. 1969–1971

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BSM programming events have been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

View press release.

Press Releases

Rough & Ready Press Release

Unearthing Vindolanda:

Perugia Press Release

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Media, Images & Interviews

For image access and permissions, information about the Museum including current and upcoming exhibitions or to book an interview with BSM Director & Senior Curator, Elizabeth Semmelhack, please contact Sarah Power, Head of Marketing & Communications at Sarah.Power@batashoemuseum.ca or 416.979.7799 x 225.

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