Extreme Lengths, Bata Shoe Museum Part II

There were many gorgeous examples of silk stockings such as these silk stockings hand-knit in the 17th century on what must have been incredibly thin needles.  Red dye was the most expensive to produce, coupled with the gold thread embroidery these would have been for a child from an extremely wealthy family.

Althea Crome is a most talented knitter, she designed and knit miniatures for the movie, Coraline.  The Bata Shoe Museum has a pair of these socks on display but they were too tiny to photograph well so these images are courtesy of Google.  If you like to be amazed then watch this film clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT5MFdAB7fI&feature=player_embedded

Impossibly tiny Chinese slippers.  Three inches was the 'ideal' length and doesn't bear thinking about.

Now these are more like it!  The exaggerated toe was a popular style during the 17th century but also notice the slap-sole, combining the style of a high heel and a mule.  This pair were the property of descendants of Frances Walsingham, whose secret marriage to Robert Devereux (a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I) contributed to his downfall.

Apologies for the photography.  The lighting is quite low in the museum so as not to damage the fabrics.

Chopines

For Mother's Day, yesterday for those of us in North America, The Heiress and I ventured to Toronto to visit The Bata Shoe Museum.  It's a smallish museum consisting of four floors of a variety of historical footwear and celebrity memorabilia.  The fourth floor housed the most fascinating collection of chopines (pronouced sha-peen), popular during the 15th and 16th century.

Worn by women to protect their delicate shoes from mud and puddles, they became a symbol of wealth.  They elevated women not only from the filth on the road but physically, as to appear 'above' their peers or those of lower status.  They also allowed a woman to show off her wealth by requiring more luxurious fabric to lengthen her gowns accordingly.  This pair is one of the more extreme examples and would require servants to hold up the lady wearing them whilst walking about.

This x-ray gives you an idea of what the construction is like.

 I knew that footwear existed to protect fancy shoes but in all my reading and museum visits this was the first time I've seen such a thing.  They immediately made the footwear seen on the runway or worn by Victoria Beckham seem a tad less bold!  There were some other interesting displays which I'll post about in a couple of days. 

Adventures in Baking

Inspired by Verity's baking posts, I decided to try my hand at baking flapjacks. Now for those of us on this side of the pond, they don't resemble anything close to our flapjacks, also known as pancakes. Flapjacks are made of oats, brown sugar, butter with a bit of cinnamon. Some recipes call for golden syrup so there are several versions out there I'm sure. Whilst reaching for the brown sugar, I spied some chocolate chips and thought 'why not?'. I apologize in advance if I've made some of you cringe! The taste reminds me a bit of an oatmeal macaroon that I used to make. When R and I were first married, I made a batch which he took to work for sharing. He came home that day asking nonchalantly where I kept my recipe. 'Why?' was my response. In a sheepish manner, R told me how one co-worker said that he enjoyed the cookies so much that he would happily pay for a dozen. In the truest sense of miscommunication, it went through work that R was a part-time baker and was taking cookie orders! Not wanting to disappoint, R promised to return to work the next day with something like twelve dozen cookies. We worked together to make enough cookies and R was instructed to let everyone know that these cookies were on the house as the baking business was no longer in service. It wasn't so funny at the time but it makes me laugh to remember it now.