Termites, storms destroy Imelda Marcos’s massive shoe collection

The famous shoe collection of Imelda Marcos, the former Philippine first lady, has gone down to termites, storms and neglect, Manila’s National Museum officials have revealed.

Not only these but hundreds of pieces of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ clothing, including the formal native see-through Barong shirts he wore during his two-decade rule, have also begun to gather mold and fray after being stored for years without protection at the presidential palace and later at the Museum, officials told a foreign news agency.

The Marcoses fled the Philippines at the climax of the army-backed “people power” revolt, which became a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes worldwide. Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, while his widow and children returned home years later.

At the time of fleeing the country, the Marcoses left behind staggering amounts of personal belongings, clothes and art objects at the palace, including at least 1,220 pairs of Imelda Marcos’ shoes. More than 150 carton boxes of clothes, dress accessories and shoes were transferred to the National Museum for safekeeping two years ago after termites, humidity and mold threatened the apparel at the riverside palace. But there they deteriorated further as the fragile boxes had been abandoned in a padlocked museum hall with absolutely no protection. A gushing leak in the ceiling of the museum during the last month's tropical storm rains made matters worse, museum officials said.

Museum members of staff, who were unaware of the boxes' content came to know about the damage only when they opened the hall on the fourth floor of the building after noticing water pouring out from under the door. They were shocked to see Marcos’ shoes and gowns when they opened the wet boxes, officials said. Workers moved the boxes to a dry room and some were later brought to a museum laboratory, where a small team of curators scrambled to assess the extent of the damage, a process that may take months given the huge volume of the apparel.

Termites and mold have damaged some items beyond repair, according to museum curator Orlando Abinion, who is heading the effort.

“We’re doing a conservation rescue. There was termite infestation and mold in past years, and these were aggravated by last month’s storm,” the Telegraph quoted Abinion as telling the news agency. “It’s unfortunate because Imelda may have worn some of these clothes in major official events and as such have an important place in our history,” he said.

Imelda Marcos’s massive shoe collection, including top US and European brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of excess in the Southeast Asian nation, where many still walked barefoot out of abject poverty. The former first lady claimed many of the shoes were gifts from Filipino shoemakers in suburban Marikina city, the country’s shoemaking capital, for endorsing their products.

Marikina officials borrowed 800 pairs of her shoes in 2001 for a shoe museum, which has become a tourist spot. Massive flooding, however, damaged dozens of pairs of Marcos’ shoes in Marikina in 2009. About 765 pairs, including famous brands like Gucci, Charles Jourdan, Christian Dior, Ferragamo, Chanel and Prada, survived the Marikina floods.