EXHIBIT A:
INVESTIGATING CRIME AND FOOTWEAR
Opens April 18, 2024
This exhibition examines both the development of footwear forensics as a means of solving crime and the social constructions of criminality from the nineteenth century to today. It also considers how clothing and footwear play roles in cultural ideas of criminality informed by assumptions and bias. This exhibition will take visitors on a journey to sleuth out the central but complex role of footwear in crime, policing, the judiciary system and our cultural ideas of criminality.
Curated by:
Dr. Alison Matthews David, Professor at the School of Fashion, Toronto Metropolitan University
Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
English, 1930s
‘Flannel Foot,’ Henry Edward Vickers, was finally caught in 1937 by Scotland Yard police after a 25-year career. Vickers often left the strips of flannel he had wrapped around his feet to obscure his footprints at the crime scene to taunt the police. His crime kit is now a part of the Crime Museum, New Scotland Yard
Crime Museum, New Scotland Yard, Metropolitan Police Service, London
Polish, 1890s
Historically, female criminality was often linked to a love of finery. It was believed that women might be driven to crime from shoplifting to murder because of an uncontrolled yet ‘natural’ desire for fashion. These boots would have been seen as ‘enticing’ by many people of the period.
English, c. 1930s
In the 19th century, the spectator was associated with leisure. By the 1930s, spectators were seen as flashy, the footwear of playboys and gangsters. In England, this association was captured by their alternate name, ‘co-respondents,’ a term used in divorce cases to identify the person with whom infidelity was committed.
English, 1930s
“The butler did it!” is a longstanding trope in detective fiction. Butlers were prized for their ability to inconspicuously serve their employers often wearing shoes with flat, smooth soles that let them move noiselessly through the house. However, it was precisely their skilled silence that made them prime suspects when crimes were committed.
American, early 20th century
In the 19th century, the term sneaker was used in the US for rubber-soled athletic footwear because the soles allowed wearers to walk around noiselessly. An interview from 1887 quoted Chicago mugger Patrick Kent who recommended sneakers to those who wished to be a successful criminal.
American, 1965–1967
This US Army boot was designed during the Vietnam War to leave the sandaled footprints of a Vietnamese National Liberation Front soldier. They were intended to be used by US scouts on reconnaissance and out patrolling, but the production costs were too high, and only 60 prototypes were ever made.
English, 1914–1918
Before fingerprinting and DNA evidence, footprints were key to the detection, identification, and conviction of suspects. In particular, the hobnail boots worn by working-class men in the 19th and early 20th century offered useful evidence because each shoemaker and region had distinctive nails and nail patterns.
American, 1910
Oregon boots were devised and patented by John Gardner, a prison warden in Oregon in 1866. They could weigh up to 28 pounds (13kg) and while effective in preventing escape. They could also permanently disable wearers, who often limped for the rest of their lives.
American, 21st century
In stark contrast to the shiny black protective shoes worn by officers and prison guards, incarcerated people are often issued lightweight, brightly hued slip-ons. Prison footwear is often laceless and made with insubstantial soles so that the shoes cannot be used to inflict harm.
Canadian, mid-20th century
In the 19th century, shoemaking was taught to incarcerated men as a skill that could provide an income after release. The Kingston Penitentiary, the first federal prison in Canada, taught shoemaking from 1835 well into the 1970s. This shoe was made there in the mid-20th century.
Collection of Canada’s Penitentiary Museum, Kingston.
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