Shoes are potent cultural symbols and powerful pieces of dress. They’ve fascinated Hilary Davidson since she was a small child reading fairytales like the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

As an adult, she transformed their enchantment into a shoemaking apprenticeship and entered the world of these alluring, complicated, magical objects.

Hilary wrote her Master of Arts thesis on the cultural and historical uses of red shoes and has been following the scholarly trail of magical footwear ever since. She’s lost count of how many pairs of red shoes she has.

PUBLICATIONS

2018       ‘Holding the Sole: Shoes, Emotions and the Supernatural’ in Sally Holloway, S. Downes and S. Randles (eds), Feeling Things: Objects and Emotions through History (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 72-93.

2015       ‘Shoes as Magical Objects’, in Helen Persson (ed.), Shoes: Pain and Pleasure London: V&A Publications), 26-35.

2011       ‘The Red Shoes’, Umělec, Issue 1, June 2011, 52-56. (English, Czech, German editions)

2008       ‘The Red Shoes [Bunhongsin]’, in Marketa Uhlirova (ed.), If Looks Could Kill: Cinema’s Images of Fashion, Crime and Violence (London: Koenig Books), 143-151.

2006       ‘Sex and Sin: the Magic of Red Shoes’ in: Peter McNeil & Giorgio Riello (eds.), Shoes: A History from Sneakers to Sandal, (London: Berg, 2006 & 2012), 272-288.

TALKS

2021 ‘The Many Slippers of Cinderella’, Melbourne Fashion Festival Ideas Programme, The Johnston Collection, Melbourne, 19 March

2016       ‘Red Shoes of Dreams', The Johnston Collection, Melbourne. 31 August

2015       ‘Fairy-tale Shoes: Cinderellas' Many Slippers’, Shoes: Culture and Innovation, V&A, London, 20 November

2009 ‘Red Shoes: Magic, Sex and Passion’, The Spring, Havant, 24 October

2008       ‘Red Shoes: Culture, History, Symbol’, American University Paris, 1st October 2008

2005       ‘Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: The Legacy of the Ruby Slippers’, Costume Society 40th Annual Conference, Dress and Jewellery, V&A, London, July