Killer Heels: The Art of the High Heeled Shoe

I’m glad the Brooklyn Museum has extended their Killer Heels exhibit to March 1^st, as many of my shoe-​loving friends have had difficulty finding time to go. Just a heads up: I work in the footwear industry so my critique may be a bit skewed.
With that said, we visited the museum on a Friday afternoon. There were no lines to get into the exhibit, but due to poor spacing, crowds pooled in certain areas while other spaces were barely touched. The shoes themselves were mostly arranged in «themes» which were fine, but the displays themselves were lacklaster or did no justice to the shoes. For example, the glass in some cases were not only very thick, but seemed like they have been through some wear-​and-​tear thus cheapening the look of the shoe displayed inside. Also, the lighting could have been better – there is a section that is black and white, with a large-​scale ink blot on either wall – this is fine. However, the lighting was too cold and sterile and in some areas much too dim which made it hard to photograph most of the shoes (but thankfully we CAN photograph here, which is something they have over the Costume Institute @ The Met). Again, spacing is an issue in this area as everything was clustered together and set much too low. The Skyscraper room had several shoes that were very architecturally-​influenced, some with fascinating back stories. However, it was very inconsistent as some of the shoes didn’t even have a name (ie one of my favorite pairs was a peep-​toe ankle boot from Fendi in 2012, but it surprised me that there was no further information provided despite being from a mainstream designer and in such recent years). The lighting here is also poorly planned out and caused certain surfaces to be much too reflective and distracting.
After experiencing the visually exciting and very well curated Gaultier exhibit featured here last year, I had high expectations for Killer Heels. Sadly, I’ve seen better visual displays at retail stores. Fortunately, other special exhibits were also featured upstairs (Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party and Kehinde Wiley’s extensive work being major highlights) so your trek out to this neck of the woods isn’t completely wasted.

I’m not the artsy type, nor am I the museum type, so take me critique with a grain of salt. I thought the exhibit was just OK. I didn’t notice a logical layout to the exhibit. I think laying it out chronologically would have made the most sense. I would have also appreciated more of an emphasis on sexy heels. Apologies for being the stereotypical male here, but let’s be real, women don’t wear heels for comfort. They wear them to look sexy. So how about a section dedicated to that?!
Ultimately it was worth the visit, but the exhibit could have been better.

I think it would be possible, with some thought and effort, to fill a museum display case with a dozen or so pairs of shoes culled from this exhibit and trace the history of high-​heels throughout history. And that would probably be a pretty interesting display case. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Museum has chosen instead to go big and devoted several rooms of its first floor space to this topic. In doing so, they’ve put together the silliest fashion exhibition I’ve seen in New York since somebody at the Met thought it would be a good idea to have an exhibition of superhero costumes worn in movies and on television shows.
I know people will flock to see these shoes, so what the Brooklyn Museum has done probably makes good business sense. But just because somebody glued some doodads onto a shoe does not make it museum worthy. Just because somebody made their shoe taller does not make it museum worthy. And those descriptions cover about 95% of what you’ll see at this exhibition. Killer Heels would be better positioned in Times Square next to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum than it is at a serious institution like the Brooklyn Museum.