
Tariq and I recently made another visit to Northampton’s footwear museum archive. It’s one of our favourite sources for vintage detailing and constructions. Amongst the hundreds of catalogued pieces of footwear are shelves of shoe paraphernalia: boxes, trees, lasts, polishes and brushes, and intriguingly labelled, ‘concealed shoes.’
I’d not explored this particular branch of the collection before and asked Rebecca, the curator, to explain the pieces to me. She opened the lids to various boxes to reveal rather dusty, and in some cases dishevelled pieces of ancient footwear. The shoes had been found hidden inside buildings. Some had been discovered in cavities over doorways, others up chimneys, and one teeny pair from inside a thatched roof. The buildings they came from varied from cottages, manor houses and even Hampton Court Palace, to factories, hospitals and schools.
It seems that the concealing of shoes was a superstition believed to bring the building and its inhabitants good luck. The shoe, as the only piece of clothing to retain the form of the owner, was believed to also retain his spirit. Many of the shoes were from children, believed to be pure and thus able to counter evil spirits. Placing shoes in wall cavities at ‘weak points’ was believed to strengthen the spirit of the building. Shoes placed high up in rafters and chimneys prevented evil from entering the dwelling at the highest point, believed to also be the most susceptible to bad spirits.
The degree of superstition and emotion attached to footwear is great. We tie old shoes to the back of wedding cars for luck, should apparently never put shoes on tables (especially new shoes) and believe old horse shoes to be lucky. I have the left shoe from my first ever pair; my Granny far away in New Zealand has the right half of the pair. For some reason these little shoes have been kept and cared for whilst dresses, coats and jumpers were handed on and discarded.

Whilst the practice of concealing shoes within buildings has pretty much died out, we still hinge much importance on our footwear. Above and beyond their practicality, we often judge others by the state of their shoes. A favourite pair is lovingly re-polished and re-soled rather than simply discarded or replaced.
At Lodger we try to cultivate the relationship between wearer and footwear. From guided selection and advice from Clement, through care and cleaning tips, to our resoling service. We are fond of each and every pair that leaves the store and hope that our clients develop the same emotional attachment to them as we have!