An iconic pair of 1970s multicolored disco platform heels sits on a shelf in the Pettigrew Hall office of Associate Professor of Theater B. Christine McDowell.
Along with other shoes, these disco-era platform heels sit on a shelf in the Pettigrew Hall office of Associate Professor of Theater B. Christine McDowell. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
鈥淚n and of themselves they are fantastic works of art,鈥� says McDowell, a costume and scenic designer, but 鈥渢hey are also a marker for period color palettes and overall cultural aesthetic.鈥�
Those shoes and others in McDowell鈥檚 collection provide a walk through the evolution of design. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e another aspect of costume history, and a way to identify eras and look at cultural and aesthetic trends,鈥� she says.
McDowell estimates that she has 200-plus pairs of vintage shoes, not all of which were sought out by her. It鈥檚 curious, she says, how 鈥渨hen you show an interest in something particular, people start giving things to you.鈥� In that sense, she enjoys recalling where, from whom, and how she got many of her shoes.
Many are at home, she says, with the more fantastic ones ending up in her office, either on the bookshelves or in an adjacent walk-in closet, where she stashes all sorts of costume and design treasures, such as a hand-stitched dress from the 1840s and a still-trendy Victorian-era piece of mourning jewelry made from hair.
She has something for every interest. And her students are interested, especially in the shoes. 鈥淭hey really connect with them because they鈥檙e like toys. Students are always coming into the office and saying, 鈥極h my God, look at your shoes! I love your shoes!鈥欌��
She does wear them, including the disco platforms. 鈥淥ther than the sheer joyfulness of those shoes, I like to put them on. I feel quite cool 鈥� and tall 鈥� when I put them on.鈥�
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