Vivienne Westwood shoe exhibition at Bowes Museum

Naomi Campbell had been wearing the Super Elevated Gillie shoes when she fell in 1993

The Vivienne Westwood shoes which brought Naomi Campbell to her knees have been put on show in County Durham.

The British designer's blue nine-inch high mock-crocodile skin shoes had been worn by the model when she fell at a 1993 catwalk show in Paris.

The exhibition at the Bowes Museum shows off shoes from Westwood's range since 1973.

Visitors have until 10 July to catch the exhibition before it travels to Japan, New York and China.

The handmade mock-crocodile skin shoes, pictured, became famous when supermodel Naomi Campbell fell while wearing the blue, nine-inch platform-heeled Super Elevated Gillie shoes at a catwalk show in 1993.

Ahead of the exhibition, Westwood said: "Shoes must have very high heels and platforms to put women's beauty on a pedestal."

Joanna Hashagen, keeper of textiles at the Bowes Museum, said the shoes, including the infamous "Super Elevated Gillie" shoes, were "works of art in themselves".

She said: "We all know about how fantastic her clothes are, but this is the first time anyone has really focused on her shoe collection.

"They are just staggering - and they are made from everything, anything you could think of.

"When you see them, you see they are sculptures, they are works of art in themselves."