|
|
Shoe
facts - Featured Monthly Designer
"...designs
that bristled with wit, originality and opulence."
|
|
Salvatore
Ferragamo
(left), whose name is synonymous with superb Italian craftsmanship,
made his first pair of shoes at the age of nine. His parents,
poor farmers in the tiny village of Bonito, couldn't afford
to buy shoes for his sisters who were about to celebrate their
first communion. Faced with the shame of seeing them wear clogs
to church, Salvatore borrowed materials from the local cobbler
and made shoes himself. At the age of fourteen, after studying
shoemaking in nearby Naples, he opened a shop in his parents
home, where he supervised six assistants as they hand-sewed
women's shoes that had more verve than anything else crafted
in the Neapolitan region.
|
| Pure
ambition brought him to the States at the age of sixteen and then
to Hollywood; directors such a s DeMille and Griffith featured
his cowboy boots, Roman sandals and moccasins in their silent
movies. Swanson, Dietrich, Pickford and Garbo flocked to his Hollywood
Boulevard store, buying custom-made designs that bristled with
wit, originality and opulence. Ferragamo improvised with unorthodox
materials, 'here a Spanish shawl, there a Chinese brocade or a
yard of Indian silk or a chair with a petite point back.' He made
shoes from hummingbird feathers and tree bark, carved prow-shaped
toes that resembled suede parrot beaks, fashioned heels to look
like corkscrews and after the discovery of King Tutu's tomb, inverted
pyramids. |
|
|
 |
| But
his thriving reputation as 'Shoemaker to the Stars' only partially
satisfied him. He could not fathom why his shoes pleased the eye
yet hurt the foot, so he proceeded to study anatomy at the University
of Southern California and learned that the weight of the body
falls onto the arch of the foot. After some experimentation, he
perfected a steel arch support that eh inserted into the instep
of every shoe. For the first time in history, womens shoes were
both stylish and comfortable. |
Ferragamo returned home in 1927 and planted the seeds for what
would become one of Italy's largest fashion dynasties. He set
up a shop in Florence and hired expert craftsman to carve lasts
as well as skilled montatores to position the uppers by hand.
Technical expertise was at the heart of his business and preceded
his entry into the world of fashion.
His most famous invention was probably the cork wedge, which paved
the way for the inspired platform shoes he fashioned during the
war. Throughout the 1940's and 50's, his styles - from a cage-shaped
brass heel to wedge-shaped suede mules - filled the pages of the
world's top fashion magazines. When Ferragamo died in 1960, he
left behind 350 patents and a reputation as the man who revolutionised
the modern shoe business. "I am very happy to have made the
humble trade of the shoemaker respectable," he wrote in his
autobiography, Shoemaker of Dreams. This from the man whose achievements
are what gave cachet to the label "Made in Italy."
This
article is reproduced from 'Shoes: A Celebration of Footwear'
by Linda O'Keefe.
Woodman Publishing 1997. Find
out more
Back to the current featured
designer... |
|
