Just down the street from the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Museum, the Bata Shoe Museum is one of of the few free museums on Sundays in Toronto. Its story is basically the history of shoes and how different periods of western history show through European fashion.
The exhibitions start from the fourth floor, where Louis XIV made heels fashionable for men, and visitors work their way back down to the ground floor. Downstairs, time travel happens and futuristic shoes made from 3D printing, environmentally-friendly materials, and the principles of sport science tell us where we’re headed in the future. The basement level is all about old shoes from around the world – Chinese, Roman, Indian footwear and the like. Sneakerheads beware: it’s not that kind of shoe museum.
This brings me to my most significant reflection on this museum. It’s educational, it serves a purpose in telling history, and is a home to an important collection for research. However, visitor numbers were still low even on a free admission Sunday afternoon. Regular folks want to connect with their childhood, with what they know and can relate to in popular culture, and shoes are a part of that.
I had an original 2008 pair of Adidas Adizero running shoes and classic 80s-style noon boots, but I saw neither of those iconic shoes here. It would serve the museum well to get rid of its out-of-place doll exhibit and replace it with something thematic. Western boots, prized sneakers, the history of basketball shoes, all just a few ideas on rotating temporary exhibitions that could be a huge straw for mainstream visitors. Missed opportunities are such a pity.
