Salvatore Ferragamo Now and Then
He had found his calling! Salvatore Ferragamo , an inspired Italian footwear designer pursued his passion for fashion. He had been one of the pioneers of fashion Made in Italy which had been link to shoemakers fashion and culture. His desire begun after making his first pair of shoes for his sister at the age of nine who were about to celebrate her first communion. That was the start of Ferragamo’s fashion smashion in the fashion world.
The work of Salvatore Ferragamo was distinguished by the originality of his footwear designs and by a continuous experimentation with models, construction techniques and materials. His designs were simply avant-garde and perfectly in line with the general mood of the times. Ferragamo began making shoes for Hollywood stars both on and off the set in California. Providing Hollywood’s glitterati and many others with unique hand-made designs and contructing an empire of luxury consumer goods designed for both men and women, with stores worldwide.
It is highly interesting and nerve shaking to observe the object of Ferragamo’s creations in relation to possible influences from other creative fields. If we will take into consideration his multiple shoe creations, all sorts of analogies and images from the world of design, architecture and art are being applied by Ferragamo. He tried to experiment a variety of wedges- heel and platform, in pressed and rounded layers, sculptured and painted, decorated with small glass mirrors using the ancient mosaic technique or with brass grates in the form of floral volutes studded with stones. It is indeed, his shoes are the architecture of a mirror scale.
With his timeless creations and to preserve the memory of Ferragamo, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum was built. A collection of over ten thousand models of shoes over forty years, from the Twenties to his death in 1960. The Museum also has a small collection of period shoes (18th and 19th century), a collection of clothing from 1959 onwards, a collection of handbags from 1970, and a huge document archive.
