Vice Style

Podiatrist, Dr. Hartley Miltchin, spent eight years between 1996 and 2004 collecting and hoarding hundreds of celebrity shoes in secrecy until he decided to unveil his bizarre obsession at the Bata Shoe Museum. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the shoe museum, it’s the most boring thing you could do in Toronto, besides paying $30 to take a tower elevator up to the sky. It started as innocently as any addiction does, except his lust for collecting memorabilia sounds way less fun, and more expensive than most hard drugs. He got a certain thrill from paying a small fortune for the first pair of custom black Nike's from Michael Jordan. He went on to covet other pairs from Shaquille O’Neil, Tiger Woods and Wayne Gretzky. That turned into Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears, Lucille Ball and Madonna, until his basement starting looking like a TMZ graveyard.

I snuck into the CNE to check out the exhibit, but after discovering there were only about twelve pairs in glass cases, I was thoroughly bored and started taking photos of a dude who kept rocking back and forth to Santana on the jukebox. I felt cheated. Later on, I spoke with Dr. Miltchin on the phone on his way back from Vegas to talk about his fetish, cutting his wife’s fingernails, and why he’s less popular than a gynecologist.

The Jackson 5s shoes

Vice: What is it about feet that really get you going?
Dr. Hartley Miltchin: I knew I was going to be a podiatrist in high school. I had a fascination with the human body; I knew I was going to do something in medicine. And my parents used to go to the podiatrist and he was a wonderful wonderful man, you know we chitchatted, and he said, “Why don’t you look into podiatry, because there’s’ a huge shortage in Canada. And you can do a lot with podiatry, whether it be skin problems, surgical, orthopedic.” They’re really medical marvels for what feet do.

I don’t know, feet gross me out.
Feet gross a lot of people out. They’re not the most brilliant looking parts of our bodies, a lot of people don’t like their feet touched. I have a lot of women come into my office and say, “You know, I’d rather go to the gynecologist than come here.”

Check out Madonna's patent boots in the background

So you kept this obsession a secret for a long time, why?
For a number of years, the thrill of collecting the shoes, was just the thrill of acquiring them. And then I’d receive them, I’d look at them for a brief moment and then I’d stuff them in a bin. And my family didn’t even know, I never talked to any of my friends about this. No one really knew that I was doing this because I was teased so much because I was a podiatrist, they would go, "How could you look at gross, smelly feet all day?" So I never told anybody from 96 to about 2004.

Chubby Checker's boots

When did you go public?
I tried to approach the Bata Shoe Museum and see if they’d be interested. So I said, “They’re collecting dust, no one sees them, I don’t count them, or photograph them, or catalogue them.” I think her jaw dropped because she couldn’t believe that there was this caliber of collection in their own backyard. They search the world for shoes. We agreed to showcase the shoes in an exhibit called ‘Starstruck’ in 2003 where we overtook a gallery. The reaction was phenomenal, there was media attention from all over the world.

Yeah, sounds thrilling.
I would go down to the exhibit, and I would just sit there. And I would just watch the people’s reaction - people of all ages - that would give me the biggest thrill.

Do you have a foot fetish?
I 100 percent do not have a foot fetish. I have a shoe fetish!


A pair of boots belonging to a Spice Girl, but which member?

Have you ever tried any of the shoes at home and walked around in them?
I once got a pair of Pierce Brosnan's loafers that he wore in Die Another Day, they were in my size so I threw my shoes out and I wore those over. I didn’t really pay much attention to them, I didn’t even tell my wife.

She probably would’ve thought it was sexy.
Ha! You know what, they’re beige loafers, almost like a suede, and they’re autographed in black sharpie at the toes. Depending on the wear of the shoe I can tell a little bit more about the celebrities feet that wore them. I have a pair of Oprah Winfrey’s shoes and she’s got massive bunions. I looked at the Marilyn Monroe shoes, she was starting to develop bunions because she put a lot of weight on the ball of her foot. Then I look at the Pierce Brosnan - he’s a very straight walker, probably has no foot issues whatsoever from the way they’re worn. I can tell they were used for driving.

John Lennon's corduroy boots. Majestic.

So I hear you’re anti-socks, don’t your feet smell?
No, mine don’t. I haven’t worn a pair of socks in fifteen years. One of my idiosyncrasies - I don’t like them - I don’t feel comfortable in them. I’ll wear a tuxedo and I won't wear socks.

You must be pretty good at giving foot rubs then.
Don’t ask me for that.

Does your wife ever ask you to?
No, she knows better. My wife will say, "Do me a favor, my nails are long, would you mind cutting them for me." And I’ll say, "Tomorrow, tomorrow." And it gets to the point where we’ll be in bed and she’ll scratch me with her nails and so I say,"OK, I understand", and I’ll get to cutting them.

That’s disgusting. Whose shoes smelled the worst?
I have a poor sense of smell, which is an advantage in my profession. One pair that comes to mind was a pair of Phil Collins'. They were espadrille shoes, they came in a box from the UK, and they must’ve been kept in some sort of basement as they smelled very moldy. I didn’t want to spray anything on them, eventually they were aired out.

Jimi Hendrix wore these?

How much is the collection worth?
Every time I’m asked I pull a figure from my heard. The answer is: invaluable. But judging by the Bata’s evaluation and the insurance on them, I’m going to say around 10 million dollars.

So what you’re saying is I should’ve been a podiatrist.
Right. I’ve never counted the shoes, but there’s probably 350 pairs. I never ever told anyone what I’ve paid for a pair of shoes, not even my wife.

A pair of Eminem's kicks

Don’t you think this is getting out of hand?
I have a wish list. One is JFK, because I always admired him, I thought he was a fabulous president. The second is the ruby red slippers that Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz, there are 7 known pairs. A gentleman in California spent $660000 for a pair at auction. The third pair is coming up for auction, if I do bid and win them, it might be the end of the collection because everything else will be insignificant - it’s the loafers Michael Jackson wore for the MTV awards that he did the moonwalk in.

Dr. Miltchin with some of his collection

Do you ever worry your family is going to sell them when you die?
My biggest fear is before my body’s even cold my son will have it on eBay for $1000 for the whole collection. He’s not into it at all. He likes really funky colored-looking sneaker shoes - like Converse, Nikes - real oddball ones. As far as me personally, I have about 3 pairs of shoes! I choose shoes for comfort and fit.

You sound like a practical man.
Thanks.

For more in on the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, click here.

NADA ALIC