The Collectors
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Thursday 29 September 2005
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This week’s passionate collector is Marika Harvey and the subject is shoes, hundreds of them.
Marika lives in Canberra, and her collection, which covers every decade since the 1920’s, is on display at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
When Marika was very small her only dream was to be able to fit into ther mother's many pairs of beautiful high heeled shoes.
When Marika's collection reached 85 pairs, she started to look forward to the 100th pair and such has been the pattern since. Now she nears the 200th pair with 180 pairs at present.
When people used to ask her why she had so many pairs of shoes, Marika would reply "Some people collect stamps, I collect shoes". She started to really see her shoes as a collection and then started to think about displaying them. Her collection spans from the 1920s to the modern day.
Marika likes shoes as they have such power to change the way an outfit looks. All of her pairs are worn.
The first lady's boot was designed for Queen Victoria in 1840.
Wooden clogs attached under the shoe were the forerunner of heels.
