A MUSEUM and gallery in Basingstoke is to showcase historic shoes and boots from Hampshire Cultural Trust’s nationally important collection.

From the utilitarian to making a statement, essential sports kit to defining an entire decade and much more besides, the story of shoes is far from straightforward.

Kicks, sneakers, daps, trainers, wellies, daisy roots: We have created almost as many urban slang terms for footwear as there are different styles and uses. As Hampshire Cultural Trust’s new exhibition SHOES: Inside Out at the Willis and Sainsbury Galley in Basingstoke will reveal, what you wear on your feet says a lot about you, from your line of work to social status, leisure pursuits and aspirations in life.

Co-curator and visual arts exhibition manager at Hampshire Cultural Trust, Tara McKinney Marinus, said: "Highlights from our collection will be presented through a number of themes; Work, Play, Protect, Identify, Empower, Transform and Aspire, to explore how shoes are a powerful signifier of the wearer, but also how their form and function allows us to explore broader cultural issues.”

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Containing around 70 pairs of shoes - the majority of which were made in the 19th and 20th centuries – SHOES also features several very early objects, including a bone skate from the Anglo-Saxon period (10th-11th century) that was found in Winchester and a child’s shoe (c1680), discovered in the chimney of a Hampshire home.

Four stunning pairs of shoes, some with matching patterns dating from the early 1700s, also feature in the exhibition. Key shoe styles from the 19th century through to the present day are reflected, along with early 18th century heels, late 19th century moccasins, a Chinese lotus shoe (c1880) and Manchu shoes (dating similarly).

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Other objects on display include a WWI officer’s trench boots, early 20th century clogs and boots, galoshes, waders, callipers, riding boots, dance shoes (including a pair from c1925 in the flapper style and Gamba ballet shoes) with the second half of the 20th century represented by 1940-50s utility wear, army boots and shoes, 1950s stilettos, Brothel Creepers and platform shoes that became synonymous with popular culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s.