Assistant Curator and Collections Manager Megan Osborne invited Director of Operations and Engagement Doreen Beard (’80) to guest-write this newsletter’s Collection Feature.
On the eve of these marvelous shoes’ 50th birthday in 2024, it seems appropriate to change their status of late from ‘professional office conversation piece’ to ‘pending historic apparel collection artifact.’ But, oh, in their day – in the Fort Collins of 1974 – and on an already tall high school girl, these platform shoes were an edgy statement. I stood about 6’2” wearing them, paired with brown corduroy gaucho pants and a matching bolero vest – an ensemble quite similar to this 1970s pattern illustration. The ensemble is long gone. But the platforms, I kept. Call it the nascent historian’s inclination that someday I would be glad I did.
Purchased for $4.00 on the sale racks of The Garment District – the coolest store for clothing and shoes in Fort Collins at the time, located in the 600 block of South College where The Music District is today – these shoes sacrificed comfort and practicality for temporary fashion mavenhood. Once that ‘maven’ was out of my system, I never again wore anything quite as outrageous. But I kept the platforms for decades, boxed, in many a closet over several moves away from Colorado, and back. Occasionally they came out – for a Hallowe’en party costume, or eventually, to embarrass my own high-school-aged progeny. When I returned to CSU and joined the Avenir Museum in January 2014, the platforms left the closet shelf for my office shelves, where they could once again proclaim their resplendence, loudly.
Queen concert
I know I must have worn them more than twice in that high school year of 1974-75, but two distinct occasions come to mind: a dance at Poudre High School, with a less than memorable band – and a concert in Denver for my 16th birthday, with a more than memorable band. It was Queen, in fact, on their first-ever tour of the U.S. where they were the opening act for the headliner – and each member of the band in their black satin-and-leathered, feathered, platform-shoed glory. Standing for the entire concert about 10-12 feet from the stage and lead singer Freddie Mercury, my platforms-advantaged height meant I missed nothing of the performance. What a memory.
So, now it’s time. What was once outré is now artifactual. I thank my 1974 platform shoes for giving me joy, and happily entrust their future to the exceptional care of the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising.
The Avenir Museum is in the Department of Design and Merchandising, part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
