Martinborough's "Carrie Bradshaw" puts collection on show

THE SHOE FITS: Martinborough branch librarian Shirley Nightingale and some of her precious shoes.

Martinborough Library has many great reads, but it's not just what's on the shelves that's pulling in the crowds -- it's what's on a certain staff member's feet.

With a collection of "hundreds" of shoes, branch librarian Shirley Nightingale is Wairarapa's Imelda Marcos -- or a real life Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City.

In fact, her footwear fetish caught the attention of television crews, featuring on Seven Sharp in 2013.

With people flocking from far and wide to get a glimpse of her adornments, Shirley is setting up a museum of her shoes at the library -- showing off everything from pink peep toes, to "blingy" stilettos.

Shirley said she was inspired to start the museum after patrons were coming to the library just to see her shoes.

"Every day, they come in and ask, 'what have you got on today?' Sometimes I'll still have my chicken feeding boots on, but they're never disappointed.

"Having the shoes here will be a great way to promote the library."

Shirley said she always "liked" shoes, but didn't start obsessively collecting until after her 50th birthday.

"My Mum said 50 was a great age, as you got to the point where you didn't care what anyone else thought," she said.

"Before that, I was scared to wear anything too wild, in case people judged. I bought myself a pair of bright pink heels, and it went from there."

In the past three years, Shirley's collection has gone from "single to triple figures" -- taking up two whole wardrobes, a shed and a sleep-out.

When it comes to choosing a shoe, fashion over function is the name of the game: not content with simple brogues, Shirley's wardrobe has everything from purple Betty Boop-style pumps, animal print wedges, Steampunk boots and Spice Girls-inspired platforms, to heels that glow in the dark.

For her interview, she chose a pair of gold sandals, with straps winding around the leg.

"I love them; they're Barbie doll heaven. Shoes have to be sexy -- the glitzier and blingier, the better."

She favours a towering heel -- though she confessed she's rolled her ankle while navigating Martinborough's "tricky" pavements. And she prefers a bargain, with her most expensive pair being "only a couple of hundred".

"I rarely pay full price. I've got myself a cheap pair from the Sallies, and decorated them with sparkly butterflies -- wee girls love them."

At the new museum, patrons will be given a brochure put together by fellow librarian Rose Falconer, featuring "interesting facts" about each designer.

There will also be trivia on the shoes themselves: for example, she has a pair which the designer dubbed 'The Mojito', and another with 23cm heels.

And visitors will be invited to try them on -- though anyone with larger than size eight feet may struggle.

With, for example, tourists from Canada asking for her photo, and a family from Dunedin stopping in Martinborough just to see her, Shirley imagines the museum will be busy.

"When you're wearing outrageous shoes, people stop and chat.

"It puts a smile on their faces."