How Many Shoes Did Imelda Marcos Really Have?

Few objects in modern political history have become as closely associated with one person as Imelda Marcos’s shoes. More than four decades after she was First Lady of the Philippines, people around the world still ask the same apparently simple question: how many shoes did Imelda Marcos really have?

The answer is surprisingly difficult.

Depending on which newspaper report, government inventory, museum account or interview you consult, the number ranges from around 1,000 pairs to several thousand. Contemporary reports even produced figures of 2,200, 3,000 and 6,000, while Imelda Marcos herself famously insisted that the true number was 1,060.

So where did all these different numbers come from — and which one should we believe?

The 3,000 Pairs That Captured the World’s Imagination

Following the People Power Revolution, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos left Malacañang Palace and departed the Philippines for Hawaii. As the palace was opened and its contents examined, journalists encountered an extraordinary quantity of clothes, accessories and footwear.

Very quickly, reports circulated around the world that 3,000 pairs of Imelda Marcos’s shoes had been discovered.

The Legend Began in February 1986

The number became irresistible to newspapers. In April 1986, The Washington Post referred to the 3,000 pairs she had reportedly left behind when the family fled Manila. US reports variously repeated that figure for years afterwards.

But even at the time, the numbers were changing.

A UPI report published on 10 March 1986, only weeks after the revolution, stated that the auditing firm SGV had inventoried approximately 2,200 pairs of shoes at Malacañang.

That is significant because it shows that the familiar 3,000 figure was not the only contemporary count.

Another 1,600-pair figure was later reported in Leyte.

The Story Became Even More Confusing in July 1986

Associated Press reported that investigators had found another 1,600 pairs of shoes in two houses used by Imelda Marcos on the island of Leyte, where she had spent part of her childhood.

The report specifically described those 1,600 pairs as being in addition to the 3,000 pairs reportedly found at Malacañang Palace.

Taken literally, that would produce a total of approximately 4,600 pairs.

But this cannot simply be treated as a definitive total because different inventories, locations and reporting methods may have overlapped.

The uncertainty was already becoming part of the legend.

By August 1986, an Even Larger Figure Had Appeared

The Washington Post referred to a collection of 6,000 shoes that had once filled Imelda Marcos’s closets. Notice an important distinction: the report says shoes, rather than necessarily 6,000 pairs.

That distinction may help explain some of the wildly different numbers that subsequently appeared.

Six thousand individual shoes would, of course, equal 3,000 pairs.

It is therefore entirely possible that somewhere in the retelling of the story, shoes and pairs of shoes became interchangeable.

Years later, Imelda herself made essentially the same joke. In a 1998 New Yorker profile, one of her associates recalled a figure of 1,107 pairs left at Malacañang, while Imelda reportedly joked that reporters should have remembered to divide by two.

Whether or not that explains the original discrepancy, it demonstrates how contested the number had become.

The Final Government Inventory: 1,060 Pairs

Then came a much more precise figure.

1,060 Pairs.

TIME explicitly noted that this was considerably fewer than the 3,000 originally reported.

This number is particularly important because it was not simply a later recollection. It was reported as the result of the government inventory.

It also happens to be the number that Imelda Marcos herself subsequently embraced.

“I Did Not Have 3,000 Pairs. I Had 1,060.”

Imelda Marcos repeatedly challenged the most famous version of the story.

Her often-repeated response was wonderfully precise: she did not have 3,000 pairs; she had 1,060.

The figure has been repeated by numerous publications and is consistent with the 1987 government inventory reported by TIME.

That does not necessarily mean Imelda owned only 1,060 pairs of shoes during her lifetime.

It means that 1,060 appears to have been a final inventory figure for shoes left behind at Malacañang.

That Distinction Is Crucial.

Shoes could have been stored at other properties, given away, discarded, lost, retained elsewhere or acquired at other periods. The reported discovery of 1,600 pairs in Leyte

illustrates why a Malacañang inventory cannot automatically be treated as a lifetime inventory of every shoe Imelda Marcos ever owned.

Other reports reinforced the confusion. Contemporary accounts produced additional figures, and different collections of shoes were identified at different locations.

Why Do Some Sources Say 1,220 Pairs?

Just when 1,060 appears to settle the matter, another number repeatedly appears in later accounts:1,220 pairs.

Associated Press has repeatedly used this figure for the collection left behind in the presidential palace.

When the Marikina Shoe Museum opened in 2001, reports described approximately 1,200 pairs found after the Marcos family left the Philippines.

The same 1,220 figure subsequently appeared in reports by AP, The Guardian, The Washington Post and other publications.

Why 1,220 Rather Than 1,060?

The available published accounts do not provide a definitive reconciliation. It may reflect different inventories, classification methods,

locations or stages in cataloguing the possessions. What it does demonstrate is that even reputable sources do not agree on a single number.

A Signed Shoe At A Military Museum Display Points To An Astonishing 4,200 Pairs

A striking clue survives at the Special Battalion Military Museum, Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. A display case which I photographed on 22 March 2024, contains a signed pair of shoes once owned by Imelda Marcos.

The left hand shoe has been signed on the insole by Imelda and the display case caption reads “one of 4,200 pair of shoes used by Imelda Marcos.”

One can only speculate whether or not Imelda supplied the information contained in the caption.

What About the Marikina Shoe Museum?

The Marikina Shoe Museum is central to the modern story, but it is important not to confuse the museum’s holdings with the number originally discovered in 1986.

When the museum opened in 2001, reports said that 220 pairs belonging to Imelda Marcos were on display.

By 2009, Associated Press reported that the museum housed more than 800 pairs donated by the former First Lady.

More recently, the Philippine Information Agency reported that the museum holds approximately 800 pairs from Imelda Marcos’s renowned collection.

So the 800 or so pairs associated with Marikina should not be interpreted as proof of the total she owned.

They represent the collection preserved there.

For recent conversations with the manager revealed that "many thousands" of shoes were stored at a nearby warehouse. Many of these were damaged beyond repair due to flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy which struck on September 26, 2009.

A separate portion of her collection stored in cardboard boxes at the National Museum in Manila also suffered severe water and mold damage in August 2012 due to heavy monsoon rains and a ceiling leak.

And What About Claims of 10,000 or More?

The legend continued to grow long after 1986.

Various popular accounts have attached much larger numbers to Imelda Marcos. One particularly striking example appeared in British Vogue in 2003, which claimed that she might already own 18,000 pairs.

That demonstrates how far the story travelled from the documented post-revolution inventories.

I have not found sufficiently reliable primary evidence supporting 10,000 pairs to present that figure as fact. It would therefore be safer to regard such numbers as publicity claims or later exaggerations unless supported by a clear contemporary inventory.

The Same Caution Should Apply to 18,000.

So, how many shoes did Imelda Marcos really own?

The most accurate answer is: nobody can now say with certainty how many pairs of shoes Imelda Marcos owned during her lifetime.

What we can document is a fascinating sequence of competing figures:

800 PAIRS — approximate number reported as being held by the Marikina Shoe Museum.

1,060 PAIRS — reported by TIME as the final government inventory at Malacañang in 1987, and the number Imelda herself later cited.

1,220 PAIRS — the figure repeatedly reported by AP and other sources for shoes left behind at the palace.

1,600 PAIRS — additional pairs in Marcos family presidential residence in Leyte reported by Associated Press in July 1986.

2,200 PAIRS — an early March 1986 UPI report attributed to an SGV auditing firm inventory at Malacañang.

3,000 PAIRS — reported by The Washington Post in August 1986, sometimes quoted by a rookie journalist as "6,000 shoes".

3,000 PAIRS — the figure that swept around the world immediately after the revolution.

4200 PAIRS — stated on a display at the Special Battalion Military Museum, Puerto Princesa.

Perhaps That Uncertainty Is Precisely Why the Story Has Endured.

The figure of 1,060 may be the strongest documented final Malacañang inventory figure. But 3,000 became the legend.

And once those thousands of shoes appeared in photographs and newspaper reports around the world, the precise number almost ceased to matter. The shoes became part of the public image of Imelda Marcos — objects that continue to provoke fascination, debate and curiosity four decades later.

So What Is The Answer To This Conundrum?

Although an official Philippine Government figure of 1,060 pairs might seem a reliable answer I think that should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The Manila law firm SGV & Co. (Sycip Gorres Velayo) were entrusted with auditing Imelda’s possessions found at Malacañang Palace in March 1986.

The total number of pairs reported by the firm were 2,200. That, I believe, is a very reliable figure.

Add to that the 1,600 pairs found in Leyte and we come to a figure of 3,800 which is not far from the generally accepted figure of 3000 pairs.

So, let’s cut through the haze of guesses, misinformation and media hype and reach a conclusion:

The figure of 3000 pairs is a reasonably accurate guess and as close as anyone is ever likely to get to the truth.