‘Shoemaker to the stars’ Salvatore Ferragamo’s colourful life and work celebrated in new exhibition

It has been 100 years since Italian shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first store in Hollywood. Sitting opposite the palm-lined forecourt of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre – which had opened a year prior in 1922, a grand picture house symbolic of cinema’s golden age – it was a mark of Ferragamo’s growing renown, having emigrated to the locale in 1915. Finding success creating footwear for the blockbusters of the era, including Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, he would go on to make shoes for a panoply of stars before returning to Florence in 1927 where he founded his eponymous house. Such was his fame, Ferragamo became known as ‘shoemaker to the stars’.

‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’ exhibition in Florence

It is in the Tuscan city that a new exhibition celebrates the unique life of the designer, held at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum located in Florence’s historic Palazzo Spini Feroni (Ferragamo the house continues to be based in Florence, now led by British creative director Maximilian Davis). Titled ‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’, it leads viewers on a trip through both Ferragamo’s personal life and extraordinary archive, which continues to influence the house’s collections today. It marks a response of sorts to an earlier exhibition on the shoemaker, originally held in 1985 at Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi and subsequently touring the world, including stints at the V&A and the Los Angeles County Museum. Despite covering the same period, this new exhibition ‘offers different perspectives and content,’ says the house.

As such, the organisers have placed a greater focus on the creative and social milieu in which the various objects were created (previously, designs were simply displayed chronologically). Themes include Ferragamo’s talent as both entrepreneur and innovator, his bold use of colour (a rainbow wedge created for Judy Garland remains perhaps his most well-known design), and a lifelong commitment to artisanal craft. A section is even dedicated to his work with the anatomy of the foot, of which he would become an expert over the course of his career, while others recreate moments in his life and career. Together, the exhibition paints a portrait of a very modern designer and businessman, who was ahead of his time in astutely balancing commercial demands with creativity.

Other highlights in the exhibition include an array of unique archival objects including sketches, photographs and documents, as well as a multiplicity of shoes spanning the various decades of his career, housed in thematic rooms. These include the original shoes created for Ten Commandments at the Hollywood Boot Shop (the name of Ferragamo’s original venture), intricate raffia sandals from the 1930s, and an 18-karat gold sandal moulded by Florentine goldsmiths for one of Ferragamo’s American clients in the 1950s. The ornate style went on to inspire details in Davis’ A/W 2023 collection for the house, shown this past February in Milan – an apt example of the shoemaker’s continuing influence, and the blurred line between past and present that the new exhibition explores.

‘It’s how Ferragamo started, making shoes for films in the 1930s, and that grew into building relationships with movie stars like Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s,’ explained Davis at the time. ’I was interested in using their glamour and beauty, and their way of dressing, as a reference, but looking at how we could make it feel modern for today.’

‘Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960’ runs at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum from October 27 2023 to November 4 2024.

museo.ferragamo.com