In the last few days we looked at architecture from the fashion and art perspectives. Let's follow the thread for another day focusing on architectural accessories and shoes in particular.
If, by any chance, you're in Venice today pop in at the library of Palazzo Mocenigo, the Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes (at 3 p.m.) where, as part of the Live On Art project, museum curators, students and lecturers from the local university will guide you through the archive and introduce you to the history of the "calcagnini" footwear.
The art of walking by limiting and impairing the freedom of movement may have come from the Orient, but it was quickly adopted also in the Western world. In the 1500s, a new trend spread in Venice - a sort of slipper mounted on an extremely high wood or cork platform that was painted, decorated with precious gems or covered in leather and fabric.
The shoes were called zoppieggi, sopei, tappini, calcagnini or, in France, chopines. The origins were uncertain: some historians say they were derived from Turkish women's bathhouse clogs, others that they came from Oriental, Greek or Spanish footwear; others stated instead they were designed to walk in Venice's damp byways and keep one's feet dry.
Favoured by courtesans, the style quickly became popular with all women who saw it as a way to elevate their status. In a nutshell, the higher and more restrictive to movement the platform, the more important was the status of the wearer (besides, women could wear longer dresses made with expensive and precious fabrics when they wore such shoes). In some cases the platforms reached 60 cm causing quite a few problems to the wearer who often had to be accompanied by two servants (in genuine Lady Gaga style...).
Since women weren't able to go too far unaccompanied, husbands favoured the shoes as they indirectly allowed them to control their wives. The calcagnini also won the approval of the Church as this type of footwear impaired dancing, an activity that was considered by the Church as sinful. The footwear soon became a health and safety risk for women, especially in their pregnancy and, in 1430, Venice banned extremely high calcagnini shoes (over 20 cm).
The calcagnini often appeared in paintings, illustrations and engravings, among the most famous and popular examples there are Vittore Carpaccio's “Due dame Veneziane” (ca. 1490-95) and Cesare Vecellio's Habiti antiqui et moderni di tutto il mondo (1590), in which a pair of chopines are placed next to a woman (maybe a prostitute) dyeing her hair.
Chopines also appear in the hilariously amusing and erotic engravings by Pietro Bertelli: in one of them entitled "Courtesan and Blind Cupid" (ca. 1588) the author shows a courtesan wearing a long skirt; a flap allows to lift the skirt and display the courtesan's undergarments and extemely high calcagnini.
The calcagnini that you will see at Palazzo Mocenigo are well kept and were rarely loaned to other museums for footwear exhibitions (there are other museums all over the world that have rare examples of calcagnini footwear in theire archives such as the Met Museum - see last image in this post). Chopines are in many ways the ancestors of modern dangerous, unstable or fetishistic footwear that restrain or physically impair women.
When we talk about contemporary high heeled shoes, we also talk about empowerment, sensuality and desire, and the same issues were probably implied by the calcagnini. Women who favoured chopines were indeed after the latest trend, but they were also in search of a physical superiority.
You will be able to make further comparisons between calcagnini and modern shoes with the Mocenigo staff and guides or ask them further information about early fascinating footwear from Venice. Last but not least: the Live On Art visits at the Palazzo Mocenigo archives are free, and this is an extra reason why you shouldn't miss these events.
The Live On Art session about calcagnini footwear starts today at 3 p.m. at the Library of the Centro Studi di Storia del Tessuto e del Costume, Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, Santa Croce 1992 - 30133 Venice, Tel. +39 041721798, email: [email protected]
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