I just returned from a quick trip to Toronto, a beautiful Canadian city on cold and windy Lake Ontario. My daughter Liz was attending a conference there and I like to tag along when I can.  Toronto is a 60-minute flight from New York City, a trip so quick that you’re surprised the flight attendants have time enough to hand out the pretzels and soda.  We flew on Air Canada, and I was impressed by the cleanliness of the plane and the friendliness of the crew and other passengers. Must be a Canadian thing.

We were only in Toronto for about two-and-a-half days, so we had to make the most of our time.  Upon landing, we checked into the Kimpton St. George, a hotel in the Yorkville neighborhood near the University of Toronto and literally across the street from the Bata Shoe Museum. 

Since Liz and I both love shoes, we were anxious to visit the Bata Shoe Museum. The building is the vision of a modern shoe box. It was designed by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama with input from Sonja Bata, the founder of the museum whose extensive shoe collection was the inspiration for the museum. Sonja was the Swiss-born wife of Thomas Bata whose family founded Bata Shoes. She worked alongside her husband, traveled the world, and collected loads of shoes along the way. Thousands, actually.

Realizing her collection was historically important, Sonja decided to create the Shoe Museum. Now 30 years old, the Bata Museum has four floors of exhibits. When we visited, we saw the All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages, a display which takes one from the wooden sandals of the Romans to the tiny Chinese slippers made for bound feet to the huge sneakers worn by Shaquille O’Neal.  We dashed upstairs to see Art/Wear: Sneakers X Artists featuring Keith Haring’s Converse, checkerboard Vans and Virgil Abloh’s “AIR” Nikes.

Rough and Ready presented the history of the cowboy boot, from the earliest boots made in Persia to today’s highly decorated cowboy boots worn by the likes of Beyonce.

But the most fabulous exhibit was Bata’s latest: André Perugia: A Design Legend Unveiled. Though we had never heard of him, Perugia was an Italian-French shoe designer whose shoes adorned the most fashionable feet of the early twentieth century.  Perugia’s creations continue to inspire designers like Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin.  The museum presents nearly 100 of his shoes in its exhibit that demonstrate his genius, evolution, and innovations.  If you love beautiful shoes, the designs of Perugia are irresistible. Among Perugia’s most famous designs are the heelless shoe, the heel made of spheres and the mask shoe.  Delightful.

The Bata Shoe Museum is an excellent way to spend an hour or two—informative, fun, and a feast for the eyes.  This gallery of footwear was the surprise jewel of our Toronto sojourn.