imelda shoe collection

i was in 2nd grade when i read a biography on imelda marcos. her sad childhood, her social climbing tendencies, delusions of grandeur, and diva-esque habits were equal parts fascinating and mortifying. but what struck me most was the chapter on her suite in malacanang, and more importantly, her SHOE COLLECTION. 3000 pairs of shoes! customized manolos and ferragamos, chanel and givenchy. drool. what i would give to have been the first on the scene post-Marcos evacuation of malacanang.

well apparently a "portion" of her abandoned shoes have been mounted on display at - whereelse-the shoe capital of the Philippines (canijustsay it's so weird to see PINK everywhere in marikina, but that's a separate blogpost)! the collection was only 800+ pairs of shoes. wonder where the rest were? probably looted and stolen by lucky politician wives. hmpf.

and we capped the day off with the standard touisty photo-op with the "World's Biggest Shoe" (honestly we have the weirdest Guinness records) and some shoe shopping.