Gold is the only colour that can compete with red in multiplicity and inconsistency in meanings. Just like red gold carries explicitly ambivalent connotations in human perception, history, mythology, religious symbology, in everyday life, in fashion.

In Ancient Greece gold was the colour of reason and immortality, in India - a sign of truth, in Christianity gold is a symbol of divinity, sanctity and martyrdom. In fairy tales many nations, including Russians, gold colour is a symbol of other-worldliness. In Middle Ages knights conceived gold as a sign of wealth, honesty and loyalty, Freemasons took gold as a sign of purity and high-pitched ambitions.

Notions like “the Golden age”, “the Golden rule”, “The Golden Section”, “the golden mean” all denote harmony and commonly accepted verity, while expressions like “golden calf”, “gold rush”, “gilded youth” contain some negative shade.

In dress gold was always intended to show wealth and statehood in all its brilliance; after all who is richer then king, what is brighter than sun?!

Shoe Icons collection numbers more than a hundred pairs of gold coloured shoes and having finished work on the Red Shoe project, we start with Gold Shoe album, presenting some glimpses of gold in our new exhibition.