When it comes to fashion and film, there are plenty of standout footwear moments that stick with you well beyond the credits. There’s the royal blue Manolo Blahnik that Mr. Big uses to propose to Carrie with in Sex and the City’s big screen adaptation, Marty McFly’s self-lacing Nikes in Back to the Future II, and, of course, Cinderella’s fateful glass slipper.But no shoe, heel or otherwise, is quite as iconic as Dorothy’s ruby slippers in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. In the original story, written by L. Frank Baum in 1900, the protagonist’s shoes are in fact silver, not the bright crimson hue we’ve come to know, but in order to better show off the movie industry’s new technicolor technology, screenwriter Noel Langley opted to amp up the color. Done in full sequins, the bow-adorned shoes gave off just the right amount of sparkle—one apparently valued at over $300,000, which was raised by the Smithsonian in a Kickstarter fund to help preserve the original pair.But while Dorothy may have been...
