If you only know one thing about Imelda Marcos, you know
about her shoes. When she and her husband, late dictator Ferdinand Marcos were exiled to
Hawaii, she left behind over 3,000 pairs of shoes, along with 888 handbags, 508
gowns, and 15 mink coats. She collected these during the 21 years she and
Ferdinand stole billions from the Filipino people. Many of the shoes were made
locally and were worth between $6 and $11 each. Others were designer brands like Charles
Jourdan, Christian Dior, Gucci, and Oleg Cassini, worth hundreds. Where are her
shoes now? 720 pairs are at the Marikina Shoe Museum in Manila. Most of the
rest were destroyed by mold and insect infestations as a result of being stashed
for years, unworn, in their original cardboard boxes. This
story would almost be funny, if not for the 17% of Filipinos living below the
poverty level. Many of them are lucky to own any shoes at all.
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