Te Manawa in Palmerston North celebrates its extensive shoe collection

Te Manawa collections manager Cindy Lilburn discusses the finer points of vintage footwear with RubyDax. Photo / Te Manawa

Anyone who been to a drag bingo night at Square Edge, or a drag show at Te Manawa, will know that Palmy's own RubyDax is iconic.

She's so iconic we just had to let her loose in the museum's collection stores – and naturally she made a beeline for the enormous vault of shoes that's a highlight of any behind-the-scenes tour.

Some of the pairs tucked safely away are locally made and more than 100 years old. A shoe doesn't reach that age without filling from toe to heel with good stories, so we made sure RubyDax had collections manager Cindy Lilburn with her.

Lilburn knows the massive Te Manawa clothing collection inside and out, and any small mysteries lurking within barely faze her.

This visit to the shoes of yesteryear is available online as a four-part collection of mini-sodes on our YouTube channel.

Because some of these slippers are from Edwardian times, viewers will get to see more of them than their owners did.

"In the olden days a bit of stocking was something shocking," Lilburn says, a reminder of how onlookers might have got a little hot under the collar at the sight of something provocative, such as a well-turned ankle. The episodes are filled with similar gems revealing how our attitudes to clothing have changed.

"A bit of sparkle never goes out of fashion," Ruby says. The fairy shoes and pair of flapper numbers are her favourites.

Have a look for yourself at RubyDax's foray into the fancy footwear of yesteryear and see the fairy shoe, and the lavatory heel. You'll find these bite-sized clips, plus a range of other at-home activities, on the Te Manawa website.

We're open again under level 2 guidelines, but still sharing the museum online while we return to our regular programme safely and with a little bit of sparkle.