The Most Extravagant & Excessive Shoe Collection Of All Time

Just the other day I was reading an article on Buzzfeed called 25 Ways Celebrity Closets Are Different From Yours, and although the closets themselves were extraordinary to look at and drool over, it was the shoe collections inside the closets that made my jaw drop in delight. I couldn’t believe how many shoes some people have, and how they display them so meticulously on individual shelves in their closets. In 2006, Mariah Carey told InStyle Magazine that she had 1,000 pairs of shoes. I wonder what that number is today. It all got me wondering who has the greatest shoe collection of all time, and what that shoe collection looks like.

I was expecting to find that a modern day celebrity holds the title of having the greatest shoe collection of all time, but apparently nobody has surpassed Imelda Marcos yet. She has held that title firmly in her grasp for decades. Imelda Marcos, who is 83 now, is the former first lady of the Philippines. Her excessive shoe collection sickened many people who watched her frivolously spend money on shoes during a time when many people in the Philippines didn’t have any shoes.

For many years Imelda’s massive shoe collection has been displayed in a museum, but because of neglect, termites and water damage, most of those shoes are now damaged or destroyed. I read that someone swooped in and bid on the entire collection at an auction recently to try and preserve this part of history, so perhaps some of the shoes will be salvaged. You can see before and after pictures from her humongous shoe collection below. So, now that this shoe collection may no longer be considered the greatest collection of all time, who will be the new heir of this prestigious title? I still can’t get over it… Can you imagine having THIS many shoes? I love my shoes, don’t get me wrong, but this might be a teensy-weensy bit excessive. Just maybe.