Salvatore Ferragamo
Salvatore Ferragamo (
June 5,
1898 -
August 7,
1960) was an Italian
footwear designer of the 20th century, providing
Hollywood's
glitterati and many others with unique hand-made designs and spawning an emporium of
luxury consumer goods for men and women, with stores in some of the most important cities of the world. Ferragamo started his career in
California during the
1920s, initially creating specific designs for Hollywood productions. One of his most celebrated pieces are
Dorothy's
ruby slippers for the
1939 version of
The Wizard of Oz.
Salvatore Ferragamo was born in 1899 in
Bonito, near
Naples,
Italy. After making his first pair of shoes at age nine, for his sister to wear on her
confirmation, young Salvatore decided that he had found his calling. He always had a passion for shoes. After studying
shoemaking in Naples for a year, Ferragamo opened a small store based in his parent's home. In
1914, he emigrated to
Boston, where one of his brothers worked in a cowboy boot factory.
After a brief stint at the factory, Ferragamo convinced his brothers to move to California, first
Santa Barbara then Hollywood. It was here that Ferragamo found success, initially opening a shop for repair and made-to-measure shoes, which soon became prized items among celebrities of the day, leading to a long period of designing footwear for the cinema.
After spending thirteen years in the
United States, Ferragamo returned to Italy in
1927, this time settling in
Florence. In
1929 he opened a workshop in the
Via Manelli, concentrating his efforts in experimenting with design, applying for patents for ornamental and utility models and some related inventions. Forced to file for bankruptcy in
1933 due to bad management and economic pressures, Ferragamo nonetheless expanded his operation during the 1950 to a workforce of around 700 expert artisans that produced 350 pairs of hand-made shoes a day.
Ferragamo was always recognized as a visionary, and his designs ranged from the strikingly bizarre
objet d'art to the traditionally elegant, often serving as the main inspiration to other footwear designers of his time and beyond. Salvatore Ferragamo died in
1960 at the age of 62, but his name lives on as an international company, which has expanded its operations to include luxury shoes, bags, eyewear, silk accessories, watches, perfumes and a ready to wear clothing line. Today, his two sons, James and Salvatore, run the Ferragamo company.
The
Salvatore Ferragamo Museum was opened in
1995 at the second floor of the Palazzo Spini Feroni in Florence, Italy, to display part of the collection of revolutionary designs by Ferragamo.
His most famous invention is argurably the "Cage Heel".Vara (Salvatore's eldest daughter) inherited her father's inimitable talent and came up with the "Vara pumps" in 1978.
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Official Site of Salvatore Ferragamo
