Virtual Shoe Museum

Collection Principles: The Virtual Shoe Museum collects images of all different kinds of women's shoes. From stilettos to flip flops the site showcases every type of shoe imaginable. There is also a section for shoe furniture (including the stereo stilettos shown to the left) as well as shoe advertisements, shoe jewelery, and shoe structures. The site does not provide information on how many shoes are contained in their database, however, the collection appears to be quite large. There is not a lot of information provided on the collection principles or what group is running the site. It seems as though images are submitted by designers and photographers and then placed in the site's database.

Object Characteristics: It is very easy to search within the collection. There are eight different ways to search including name of the designer, focus of the shoe (ie ankle, heel, print), material type, object type (such as furniture, advertisement, shoe), shoe type, special use (ie death, furniture, marriage), and style. The entire collection can also be searched by color. All the images are available as thumbnails and larger images (~4"x4"). Most of the shoes have several images, often the shoe from different angles or as part of an outfit. It seems as though many of these different images were promotional material submitted by the designer.

Metadata: A good amount of information is provided. For each shoe is there is an option called "this item is part of" which shows all the different search areas under which that particular shoe is classified. For example, a shoe could be classified under two different colors, one designer, several different focuses such as a focus on the bucket and the sole, the material type, object type (usually shoe), the shoe type, and the different styles. The shoes seem to be well classified. Also many shoes have a text option which contains for example information on the designer or the name and date of the fashion show where the shoe was first seen.

Intended Audience: I definitely think that this site appeals to women who love shoes. People interested in fashion and design might be able to use it for inspiration. Overall it is extremely well organized and presented, though I was somewhat frustrated by the lack of information how all these images were compiled.