Kickstarter launched to save Dorothy's red shoes from The Wizard of Oz

  • 19/10/2016
Kickstarter launched to save Dorothy's red shoes from The Wizard of Oz

The most famous shoes in the world are in need of an urgent facelift.

Dorothy's red ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are nearly 80 years old, and they're beginning to show their age.

The Smithsonian museum in the US has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the US$300,000 needed to restore them to their former glory.

And in true Kickstarter fashion, they're not just asking for something for something.

Backer rewards range from simply the museum's "heartfelt thanks", for a mere US$1, to a series of exclusive designs by Broadway's William Ivey Long for between US$10 and $500, all the way up to seeing the famous slippers up close and personal as they're being restored (US$10,000).

One true Oz fan has already pledged US$7000 and will receive a replica pair of the slippers - there are three more still available.

"These replica ruby slippers look so real, your friends might be tempted to drop a house on *you* just so that they can get them!" the museum says.

It's enough to turn another supporter green with envy - though not as much as the Wicked Witch.

"I really wanted to pledge 7k to get the replica shoes, but I would have been the old lady who lived in those shoes after hubby threw me out," Charlotta Brower wrote on Kickstarter.

The Smithsonian has already raised more than 20 percent of its goal in just over a day.

Newshub.