CHANHASSEN, Minn. — Prince wasn't just a Minnesota music icon, he was also at the forefront of fashion throughout his legendary career.
Now, his estate at Paisley Park is sharing the largest display yet of Prince's footwear collection.
More than 300 pairs of Prince's iconic shoes will be part of Paisley Park tours starting on July 9 as part of the new limited-time "Beautiful Collection: Prince's Custom Shoes" exhibit. Prince's full collection totals more than 1,200 pairs of shoes.
Some of the designers featured in the exhibit will include Donatella Versace (who was a longtime collaborator with Prince), as well as Andre No.1 and Cos Kyriacou.
According to Paisley Park, "Nearly every outfit Prince owned was customized specifically for him including a pair of custom-made shoes to match, affording Prince a streamlined, head-to-toe look that fearlessly pushed the envelope. Many of those 'looks' were directly inspired by pictures Prince would come across in fashion magazines."
Some of the featured footwear will include:
- Hand-painted blue ankle boots with white clouds from the “Raspberry Beret” music video
- Signature Versace fabric-heeled boots
- Blue beaded pair worn to the 57th Academy Awards where Prince accepted the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Purple Rain
- Pair adorned with the gold metallic “Free Music” sticker highlighting the complex relationship between recording artists and record labels
- Wooden shoe last crafted to emulate Prince’s foot in order to create his custom made shoes
The shoes will be displayed in a customer 3D-printed grand piano display case designed by Minneapolis-based Stratasys.
Paisley Park says the footwear exhibit will be featured at least through the end of the year as part of tours of the estate. Paisley Park tour tickets start at $45.
More information can be found on the Paisley Park website.