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Imelda opens shoe museum
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FORMER Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, the world's most notorious shoe collector, opened a museum in the Philippines last Friday dedicated to footwear and boosting tourism.
The Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila includes hundreds of pairs of shoes, some collected from the presidential palace after Imelda and her late husband ex-President Ferdinand Marcos fled the country in disgrace in 1986.
Others were donated by Imelda herself or by a number of local politicians and flim stars.
The former first lady, who hopes the museum will boost tourism and help Marikina's local footwear industry, said the shoe shrine was a creative way of turning a negative perception of the country into something positive.
Among the shoes on display were five identical pairs of black Charles Jourdans with rhine stones studded in the heels and a pair of blue canvas espadrilles that Imelda wore when she and her husband left in a hurry in 1986.
About 1,200 pairs of shoes were said to have been found in Malacanang presidential palace after the couple fled. Critics said the vast collection represented great extravagance and excess particularly in such a poor country.
She has said on a number of occasions that she collected such a vast array of footwear to support the Marikina shoe industry.
Last Friday, Imelda spent much of her time walking past the display cases, taking out shoes and posing for photographers. Aparticularly striking red pair of shoes were a personal favourite, she said.
Asked by reporters last Friday how many pairs of shoes she presently owned, she smiled and replied: "I don't know, I've really lost count."(SD-Agencies)
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