Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960) was born in southern Italy, the eleventh of 14 children, and designed his first pair of shoes for his sister’s confirmation ceremony when he was only nine years old. Salvatore followed his older brother to California in 1919, initially opening a small shoe repair shop in Santa Barbara before moving to Los Angeles in 1923 to establish The Hollywood Boot Shop. Crafting innovative, custom-made shoes for a number of major studio films, Ferragamo quickly garnered a reputation as the “Shoemaker for Stars”, designing footwear for Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland and Gloria Swanson, among others. After returning to Florence in 1927, Ferragamo established his eponymous company the following year and continued to craft unique, hand-made footwear for some of the wealthiest and most famous women in the world including Marilyn Monroe, Eva Peron, Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn. His precise and creative approach to shoe design spawned many innovations including the wedge heel, metal-tipped stilettos and the ballerina flat, and by the early 1950s his team of 700 artisans were creating nearly 350 pairs every day. After his death in 1960, Ferragamo’s dream to “dress a woman from head to toe” was carried out by his wife and children, unveiling the first collection of handbags and women’s ready-to-wear apparel in 1965 and thus establishing Ferragamo as a total fashion house. In 1995, the Salvatore Ferragamo museum was established at the company’s flagship store in Florence, dedicated to footwear and the brand’s history.

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