This museum is celebrating 30 years of existence. This museum, which is located in a five story award-winning Raymond Moriyama building, provides a stylish setting for one the world’s biggest temples of footwear. Sonja Batta, a shoe industry executive who traveled the world for 50 years, built this museum on her private collection. In addition to showcasing pieces from its nearly 15,000-item permanent collection, the museum also funds regular research projects and trips to explore global footwear traditions and the cultural, religious, class, and gender-related aspects of shoes—resulting in projects that have highlighted everything from the typology of Native footwear to the traditional dress of the Canadian Inuit. Don’t miss showstoppers like Marilyn Monroe’s red leather stilettos, John Lennon’s Chelsea boots, Queen Victoria’s silk slippers, Madonna’s platform Dolce & Gabbanas, Elton John’s silver and red high platform boots, and—delightfully—the Dalai Lama’s flip flops.
