The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada

Are we going back to Chopines?
I went to Toronto on April 3rd and visited the Bata Museum. I thought these shoes were quite insane, they were called Chopines (details below).

Shoes, Swedish, 17th century, on loan from Skokloster Castle, Sweden
The architecture of this shoe is highly idiosyncratic. The shoemaker made a sole by combining elements of a chopine with a high heel and he made an upper that combines a shoe and a mule. It seems that the shoemaker was attempting to merge the extreme elevation offered by the chopine with the up-to-the-minute fashion of high heels. The resultant shoes are a remarkable statement of ostentatious display.
Copyright © Collection of Skokloster Castle, Sweden (Photo: Göran Schmidt)

Here's another one...

Italian, 1580-1620, Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada
This pair of velvet covered chopines embellished with lace, ruching and tassels were clearly never intended to be worn as overshoes but instead were items of luxury in the wardrobe of an upper-class woman.
Photograph © 2009 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada

Now!!!
Don't the shoes below seem to be inspired by chopines (aka impossible to wear fashionable shoes)?

I thought is was an interesting observation....

Enid P.