{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1807543"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1807543/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PT0065/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PT0065/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PT0065","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PT0080","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PT0067","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1807543/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1807543","accessionNumber":"T.74:1&2-2026","objectType":"Pair of shoes","titles":[{"title":"Tabi","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Maison Margiela (formerly Maison Martin Margiela) was founded in Paris by Belgian designers Martin Margiela (1957) and Jenny Meirens (1944-2017) in 1988. Margiela trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp and became known for avant-garde designs which were inspired by the Dada art movement and the deconstructed fashions of Japanese designers such as Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons. In its early years the house’s early ethos questioned all elements of the fashion system and particularly its commercial nature. Garments were left unfinished or with an unconventional structure that left seams and linings exposed. Maison Martin Margiela’s first retail space was an unmarked white space in Paris; garment labels were blank white rectangles attached with four white tacking stitches. Maison Martin Margiela debuted its first haute couture collection in 2006. By the summer of 2008 there were 14 Margiela boutiques and the house had become one of the most highly regarded and critically acclaimed in the fashion industry. Martin Margiela stepped down as creative director in 2009, and the house was run with an anonymous design team until John Galliano was appointed as head designer in 2014. Galliano stepped down in 2024, and Glenn Martins is the current head designer.\n\nTabi split toe Derby shoes\r\nThe Tabi shoe was first shown by the house in its debut catwalk show in 1988. The finale of the show saw models walk the catwalk in calf-length black leather Tabi boots with the signature cleft toe. The soles had been dipped in red ink and left hoof-like footprints on the canvas-covered floor. The boot was inspired by Margiela’s trip to Japan where the split toe Tabi sock can be traced back to the 15th century, when it was made to be worn with split toe sandals (there are several 20th-century examples of Tabi socks in the Asia collection, for example FE.84:1&2-2012, and a very early Egyptian example dateable 250-420 CE, 2085&A-1900). Split toe socks were thought to promote holistic and physical balance and were initially the reserve of the leisured elite, but as cotton routes opened to China and rubber soles were added, the Tabi – or Jika-Tabi – became the standard footwear of blue-collar workers. The two pairs of socks offered here are designed to be worn with the shoes. One pair is in thick wool and resembles a hand-knitted hiking sock, the other offers a more formal style in plain grey cotton/wool mix.\r\n\r\nMargiela made the footprinted canvas from the floor of his debut show into a waistcoat secured with masking tape. With limited budget at the beginning of his career, he showed the same Tabi shoes season after season.  ‘After several collections people started asking for them. And they wanted more… and they didn’t stop asking, thank God!’”, Margiela explained. The Tabi has become synonymous with the fashion house and a shorthand for the fashion connoisseur. In recent years the Tabi has entered the mainstream, worn by numerous celebrities at red carpet events and has stimulated much discussion in the fashion press (see for example, ‘How The Margiela Tabi Went From Art School Niche To A Cornerstone Of Celebrity Style’, Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 29 July 2023; and ‘How To Style Tabis – A Divisive Shoe That’s Become Unexpectedly Mainstream’, Alice Cary, Vogue, 4 July 2025).  ‘The Tabi boot is the most important footprint of my career,’ the designer said in 2015. ‘It’s recognisable, it still goes on after 25 years, it has never been copied.’ The design was so successful that John Galliano expanded the range during his tenure at the label, creating split-toe loafers, cowboy boots and a stiletto pump. It is likely that the male Derby shoe version offered for acquisition dates from this period.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Black Tabi split-toe Derby shoes, leather and rubber, Maison Margiela, Paris, 2000s","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Margiela","id":"A27846"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"leather","id":"AAT11845"},{"text":"rubber","id":"AAT12941"},{"text":"rubber","id":"AAT12941"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2026PT0065","2026PT0080","2026PT0067"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"UpSmallStudio","id":"THES393032"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"UpSmallStudio","id":"THES393032"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"shoes","id":"AAT256767"}],[{"text":"shoes","id":"AAT256767"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2000-2015","earliest":"2000-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given in memory of our much loved brother Peter Augustine Burnard","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Brown 'Tabi' split-toe Derby shoes, leather and rubber, Maison Margiela, Paris, 2000s","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.74:1-2026","T.74:2-2026"],"accessionNumberNum":"74","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2026,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-07-20","recordCreationDate":"2025-08-05","availableToBook":false}}