From poverty clogs to killer heels: the 1,000-year story of British footwear

A new exhibition traces the social history of the nation through 60 pairs of shoesYou can always judge a man by his shoes, or so the old adage goes. And the same goes for woman, as shown in an exhibition in Winchester which promises to reveal the use and role of all sorts of footwear through the ages – and what it conveyed about the wearer’s status. Co-curator Tara McKinney Marinus says: “It’s a story of our social history, rather than footwear as fashion.”Nearly 60 pairs of shoes and boots, slip-ons and clogs, plus some unusual one-off items, will be on display, most made in Britain over the past millennium.