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| Photo taken from The Old Curiosity Shop website |
This tipsy turvy boutique known for its handmade shoes can be found tucked away in the back streets of Holborn, London. The 16th century house was said to have inspired Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Even if that were just hearsay, it survived the Great Fire of London 1666 and the Blitz in WWII, and is one of the oldest buildings still standing in London today, that makes it magnificent in its own right.
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| Photo taken from The Old Curiosity Shop website |
You can see the store and its shoes here. Some have found the inside to be disappointing, being more organised and emptier than they assumed. I think there is a world of detail that lies beyond the first glance, seen in the creaking wood floor boards, the unique shapes of the shoes and the small precarious staircase. You may even find collaborations with the like of Comme de Garcons and Eley Kishimoto. Like many I have been inspired by my visit and have written a small poem below.
The Curiosity of a Child
She pushes her wrinkled face up against the window
Her breath casting a soft fog across the glass
Reflecting benches cluttered with nostalgia
She enters the door with excitable anticipation
Her smile glimmers as she ventures into the room
There they lay, dusty and forgotten in the corner
She slips her foot into the supple aged leather
The nutmeg tone befitting her tarnished eyes
The sensation awakening her shattered soul
She scampers out of the shop time has forgotten
With the excitement of a child
She skips a road long lost
Pounding the pavement - liberated
The squelch of the autumn leaves
The splash of murky puddles
The water trickles down the seams
Creeping deep into the tweed uppers
Engulfing her fragile feet
Her smile an explosion of a million vivid colours
Her arms outspread spinning
She stumbles
The rope laces lie tattered and undone
And it saddens her to realize
That her childhood freedom has faded away
