Sequins, studs and horsehair - one man's collection of wild shoes

Dazzling dress shoes are, for Karepa Wall, an expression of pride in his Māori culture and a great conversation-starter.

For Nigel Borrell, wearing brightly coloured high-top sneakers is a way to disrupt office hierarchies and reward himself for hard work.

Pairs from Wall and Borell's impressive shoe collections are displayed alongside the footwear of artist Lisa Reihana at Well-Heeled: Shoes with Personality - an exhibition at Lower Hutt’s Dowse Art Museum.

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Sequins, studs and horsehair adorn the 250-plus pairs of dress shoes in Wall's collection - most of which he's worn at least once.

While none of his shoes feature Māori designs, to Wall each pair have their own embedded whakapapa, and sharing this is a great way to open up conversations with strangers, he says.

“When people go, 'Those are some awesome shoes', I got these at so-and-so, and they were with me at so-and-so. Then you dive into a big, deep conversation with somebody you've probably never met because of these wonderful shoes that you're wearing.”

At work, colleagues know to keep their eyes to the ground for a pair of eye-catching shoes when they're seeking him out - “Look for the shoes and that's Karepa.”

Wall started collecting shoes while travelling - picking up a new pair as a souvenir every time he went overseas.

Because his feet are "Noah’s Arks", buying them online isn't an option so when he wasn't travelling during lockdown, he turned to local offerings - especially some "amazing showstoppers and talking pieces” produced by the Wellington brand Maher, whose cobbler, Glen Maher, has now produced bespoke shoes for Wall.

While he's worn most of his 250-plus pairs at some stage, the Well-Heeled exhibition includes a pair he designed himself - in red and pink with steel detailing - that didn't quite meet his style standards.

"They're ones that you don't want to wear."

Borell's taste for buying “weird and wacky” shoes kicked off when he got his first pay cheque and began travelling overseas. A pair of “probably highly illegal" crocodile and snakeskin shoes in northern Thailand were his first purchase.

As an artist, Borell says he considers appropriateness, friction and tension in his shoe choices, but also comfort.

"You have to wear them and not let them wear you, or else you're not going to feel comfortable, and you're not going to pull them off.

“You've got to know how to contrast them so that they're allowed to stay loud and everything else has to fall into line.”

Although he owns all manner of shoes, the vibrantly coloured high-tops he collected between 2007 and 2021 are what's on show in Well-Heeled.

Borell's passion for buying them peaked while he was working in the “quite stuffy” office environment at the former Manukau City Council.

"People didn't know what to make of me or what I was doing in those contexts and I quite liked that.

“It was sort of disarming, even if only in my own head. It was a way of disrupting those spaces and people's perceptions.”

Buying a cool new pair of shoes is how Borell rewards himself during and after working on demanding projects.

The Well-Heeled exhibition includes a pair of turquoise blue Nike high-tops that whispered his name while he was curating a retrospective exhibition for Māori artist Kura Te Waru Rewiri and simultaneously project-managing Auckland's Waitangi Day family celebrations.

“Before you knew it, they were in my hands and on my feet.”

Well-Heeled: Shoes with Personality is showing at Lower Hutt’s Dowse Art Museum from May 17 to October 6. Entry is free.