SPECTACULAR shoes worn by everyone from the elite of Ancient Egypt to Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City have gone on display at one of this year’s most anticipated exhibitions.

Shoes: Pleasure and Pain opens at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle tomorrow (Saturday), following a hugely successful stint at the V&A in London.

Taking the themes of transformation, status, seduction, creation and obsession, the exhibition showcases more than 200 pairs of historic and contemporary men’s and women’s shoes by 70 named designers.

Fantasy footwear such as the Swarovski Chrystal Cinderella slippers worn by Lily James in the 2015 Disney film and Moira Shearer’s ballet shoes in the 1948 tearjerker The Red Shoes also feature.

Other highlights include the famous feathered Jimmy Choo’s created for Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and Kylie Minogue’s Tail Light sandals.

However, the exhibition is about more than glamorous party shoes.

It chronicles the agony and ecstasy of footwear throughout 2,000 years of history, spanning many cultures and touching upon political, social and gender issues.

The three inch Chinese Lotus shoe is a prime example. Measuring just three inches long, it was made for bound feet and was still being produced in the early 20th century.

The idea of shoes as objects of desire for both men and women is also explored, with a large collection of unworn sneakers belonging to a male collector among the displays.

X-rays photographs, meanwhile, shed light on the inner workings of shoes, as does the collection of foot moulds, custom made for the likes of Princess Diana and Charlie Chaplin.

Sarah Quantrill, an exhibition manager at the V&A, said: “This exhibition really is for everyone; men, women and children. We all wear shoes and have worn shoes for centuries so it is another way of studying the past and different cultures.

"Shoes are used as status symbols. We are often amazed by the over-the-top footwear we see today but, when you look at the shoes in this exhibition, you can see they were just as extravagant hundreds of years ago.”

For Joanna Hashagen, keeper of Fashion and Textiles at The Bowes Museum, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain is yet another major coup for the region, hot on the heels of the YSL show last year.

“We are the only UK venue outside of London to stage this exhibition, which is very exciting,” she said. “I think we have certainly proven our worth with YSL. We now hope to develop our relationship with the V&A and bring even more amazing exhibitions to the North-East.”

Shoes: Pleasure and Pain runs until Sunday, October 9. Tickets, priced at £9.25 plus a £1 booking fee, are available from thebowesmuseum.org.uk