Salvatore Ferragamo (Salvatore Ferragamo) - a famous Italian fashion designer shoes, created handicrafts for many Hollywood stars: Lillian Gish (Lillian Gish), Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn Monroe), Rudolph Valentino (Rudolph Valentino), John Drew Barrymore (John Drew Barrymore (John Drew Barrymore ) and others. Invented square and wedge-shaped heels, the founder of the brand of the same name.
- Official Instagram: @ferragamo - more than 4 million subscribers.
Biography
The future world shoemaker was born in the Italian village of Bonito (Bonito) in the administrative region Campania of the province of Avellino (Provincia di Avellino) on June 5, 1898.
Childhood
Spouses Ferrogamo raised 14 children, and Salvatore was the 11th of them. Parents struggled to make ends meet, the house often lacked food and clothing, and children were allowed to wear boots only on weekends. From early childhood, Salvatore dreamed of his own shoes, which he could wear every day.
Training
From the age of eight, he began to learn to work as a shoemaker's knife and a dratva. At nine years old, he was able to make his first pair of shoes and present as a gift to his sister. At 11, parents gave their son to study in a shoe workshop of a professional cobbler of Naples (Napoli).
At the age of 15, Salvatore goes to the States to become an employee of the Boston shoe factory.
His older brother helped him get there. After ten years of service in the factory, the young man moves to California (Santa) in the city of Santa Barbara, where he works in his brother’s store, sells shoes and repairs and makes shoes. Later, he opens his own shoe shop.
First star customers
In America, a young man first began to think about how to make shoes more perfect, fashionable and comfortable. The models he created were beautiful, stylish, but uncomfortable and rubbed their feet. He was constantly looking for new methods and ways of tailoring products.
The first wholesale buyer, Salvatore becomes the director Cecil Blount De Mill (Cecil Blount DeMille), he placed an order for 100 pairs of cowboy shoes for the movie. When the order was ready, the director sewed all the shoes for the picture only here.
Following DeMille, such stars as Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Thomas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore Jr. (John Barrymore Jr.) began to turn to Ferragamo . In 1923, master Salvatore, who gained popularity, moved to Hollywood.
The path to success
Keeping throughout his life the desire to improve the created models, Salvatore enters the University of Los Angeles, where he attends lectures in mathematics, engineering and anatomy. Knowledge of the structure of the foot allows the designer to develop unique pads that are optimal for the distribution of body weight. Wearing high-heeled shoes with such pads becomes convenient and easy.
Having divided the sole and the insole with the supporting "Gelenk" made of metal, the master receives a patent for it.
Inventing arch support, metal studs, platform shoes, wedges, heel mesh, Ferragamo received more than three hundred patents throughout the entire period of work. He adorned his products with precious and semiprecious pebbles, sparkles, mirrors, pearls, lace embroidery, shells, bird feathers and even fish scales. As a lining, he used snake skin, skins of antelopes, leopards.
Italian workshops
In 1927, an unknown woman with a closed face visited the fashion designer. She had a non-standard foot and she wished that Salvatore designed high-heeled shoes specifically for her. For ten days, the master worked on the order, creating shoes that conceal all the imperfections of the leg. The lady liked comfortable and beautiful shoes so much that later she made an order for a series of shoes. This was the wife of a rich Maharaja from India.
The money received from the wealthy lady was enough to realize a long-held dream - to organize a network of our own workshops with individual tailoring and a staff of sixty craftsmen. In 1927, the maestro again returned to his homeland.
In 1928, Florence (Firenze) became the foundation of the Salvatore Ferragamo brand.
The Great Depression became an obstacle to the economic growth of the company and in 1933 it was already declared bankrupt. Salvatore continued to believe in his work and in 1935 he managed to acquire two abandoned castles in Verona and Florence. They became the site of two new workshops where 43 craftsmen worked.
After the war
When the Second World War began, Salvatore Ferragamo began to have difficulty acquiring materials for tailoring shoes. Cheaper materials were used, the sole began to be made from balsa wood, and the top was made from textile materials, felt fabrics, rubber and plastic. In 1947, on the Arno River, the designer saw a fisherman and became interested in his nylon nets. On the same night, Salvatore reproduced innovative nylon shoes with wedge-shaped heels. For this invention, the designer was the first shoe maker to receive the Neiman Marcus fashion prize.
In 1952, Salvatore again surprised his fans by creating steel heels, called the "styletto", without losing their originality today. In the 1950s, more than seven hundred workers worked in the Ferragamo empire; they made 350 pairs of shoes every day.
Family
Wanda Miletti Ferragamo (Wanda Miletti Ferragamo), daughter of a doctor and wife of Salvatore, was originally from the native village of the fashion designer. She became his main ideological inspiration, friend, support and support to her talented spouse. They married in 1940, and when her husband turned 43 years old, his wife gave birth to their first child.
In total, the couple had six children, three daughters and three sons: Fiamma, Giovanna, Falvia, Ferruccio, Massimo and Leonardo. The constant employment of the designer did not prevent him from becoming a wonderful father. He was never late for family dinners, where the children told their parents about their affairs, and his father gave them little vagaries of star clients.
Death
On August 7, 1960, Salvatore Ferragamo died of cancer and his wife was forced to either sell the company or head it. Wanda decided to become the head of the family business, involving all children in her work. Thanks to her delicate business flair, the company took pride of place in the fashion world.
Salvatore Ferragamo brand today
Wanda initiated the expansion of the family business. Now in 450 brand boutiques of the Ferragamo brand not only shoes are soldbut also perfumes, silk scarves, ready-to-wear clothes, glasses, bags, watches, ties, frames, jewelry.
The company's turnover is 950 million dollars a year.
Salvatore Ferragamo Signorina perfumes and eau de toilette are considered the most famous scents; gels and lotions are also produced in this line. In Russia, the fragrance can be purchased at L'Etoile stores.. Prices for perfumes range from 900 rubles to 10 thousand rubles. Another popular fragrance is Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto. From Italian, the name of a light, summer, warm and exotic perfume is translated as “charm”.
The no less famous fragrance Attimo Salvatore Ferragamo is designed for sophisticated women, carries notes of floral shades. Available in a transparent bottle in a broken shape.
The official online store of the brand www.ferragamo.com is available for purchases to residents of Europe, Asia, America. In Russia, you can buy brand products online only through intermediaries.
In Moscow, 3 official Ferragamo boutiques have been opened. Find your nearest boutique at store.ferragamo.com
Museum and Foundation
In 1995, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum was opened in a large Florentine palace of the Middle Ages - Spini Ferroni Firenze on the Republic Square (Piazza della Repubblica). It contains more than 10,000 pairs of shoes sewn by a fashion designer, documents documenting the work of the company, accessories and clothing created after the 1950s.
Salvatore Ferragamo Foundation was founded in March 2013 at the expense of the company.
His activities are aimed at providing grants to novice designers and fashion designers working in the areas of Salvatore.
Interesting Facts
- Salvatore could find out the character of his customer just saw her leg. He divided all the ladies by the size of their legs into three categories: Cinderella, Venus, and Aristocrats.
- Actress Greta Garbo once bought seventy pairs of shoes in a Ferragamo boutique at a time. For Marilyn Monroe, the designer sewed more than forty pairs of shoes.
- For himself, the designer created the only model of men's shoes SALVATORE.
- Under the Ferragamo label, models for many films have been sewn: The Seven Year Itch by BillyWilder, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Howard Winchester Hawks, “Breakfast at Tiffany's” by Blake Edwards, “A Cinderella Story” by Mark Rosman, “Australia” by Baz Luhrmann ), "The Devil Wears Prada" ("The Devil Wears Prada") by David Frankel, "The Departed" by Martin Scorsese and others.
- With each of his clients, Salvatore took measurements and collected huge collections of pads.
