Shoes: Pleasure and pain

Hop, skip, jump or hobble if you must, but do take in the Peabody Essex Museum's debut of SHOES: PLEASURE AND PAIN!

It's an imaginative collection of cobbler's dreams, courtesan's kicks and high society heels. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum of London the event walks PEM guests through centuries of footwear. Music and videos compliment four galleries of global-glam telling the story of fashion and function with a perspective that also includes an homage to New England's once landmark footprint in the shoe industry. Before exploring the primary themes of Transformation, Status, Seduction, Creation and Obsession that dominate the museum's "shoe salons" a scarlet rush of stiletto'ed lust welcomes PEM guests with a motorized monument to shoe-ology's raciness.