The sole muse

To the uninitiated, a creative dialogue between shoe retailer Clarks and British art-den Victoria and Albert (V&A) may seem unlikely. After all, what do shoes have to do with art and history, right? As it turns out, everything.

Shoes are, like most fashion articles, fairly dependable custodians of contemporary social realities. Even if you cannot tell your Chopines from your Baby Dolls (not the negligee, no), there is no missing the curious histories behind the two mighty heels. One held sway between the 15-17th centuries, keeping noble women's skirts and egos at a respectable height, the other served as an understated accessory to the dazzling wardrobe of the post-war 1950s.

Little wonder then, that such designs, inspired by the periodic peculiarities of history, can fascinate both the artisan and the art-collector.

The styles that Clarks chose to reimagine embody two distinctive fashion decades. The 1950s had churned out the 'Teddy Boy' range of fashionables, a shout out to the proverbial Edwardian dandy. The cocky name caught on like wildfire after a Daily Express headline shortened 'Edwardian' to 'Teddy' in 1953.

The new fop-on-the-block favoured slim fit trousers with exposed socks and drape jackets and his footwear of choice was Creepers. Distinguished by their thick crepe soles and suede uppers, the shoes recently resurfaced with an appropriate modern spin. They are now worn by both men and women.

For its part, Clarks dug into the V&A archives to draw from one of Britain's most iconic wallpaper prints — the 1950s print-and-pattern-king Peter Shuttleworth's Toccata. Turns out the Toccata, originally a design of black and white squares on a pale-brown ground, makes a strong case for urbane verve and gender-fluidity when spotted on your shoes.

But the high-point of Creepers, insists a Clarks spokesperson, is not its flamboyant lineage, but its new-age versatility. "Today they are available in different cuts and varying sole thickness that can be worn with skirts, cropped pants or a combination of dress-and-blazers to create that chic feminine look," he reckons. Not surprising then, that what was once the last word of the high-street male has now been adopted by female power-personas like Rita Ora, Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen and Miley Cyrus.

Another such revolutionary decade in fashion were the 1980s. Borrowing liberally from the punk-rock subculture of the 70s, the Goth's closet — ripped-blacks and brooding leather-works — sauntered out of the roaring club scene. Clarks seems to have tapped into the modern youth's psyche when it decided to create a gentler version of the high-buttoned boots with an abundance of buckles, without disturbing the era's Devil-may-care ethos. Lots of leather is what you can look forward to in this line, dear rebel.