Salvatore Ferragamo- A footwear legend

Salvatore Ferragamo- synonymous with superb Italian craftsmanship. He made his first pair of shoes at the age of 9!!

His parents, poor farmers in the tiny village of Bonito, couldn't afford to buy shoes for his sisters, who were about to celebrate their first communion. Faced with the shame of seeing them wear clogs to church, Salvatore borrowed materials from a local cobbler and made the shoes himself! This is when he knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

He convinced his father, who considered shoemaking too lowly a profession, to allow him to move to Naples and become an apprentice. At age 14, after studying shoemaking in nearby Naples, he opened a shop in his parents' home, where he supervised six assistants as they hand-sewed women's shoes.

But four of his brothers were already in America, and Salvatore headed for Boston where one of his brothers worked in a shoe factory making cowboy boots. But the factory's production line didn't suit his belief that every individual pair of shoes should be studied and researched, and he convinced his brothers to move to California. First Santa Barbara, then Hollywood, where he opened a shop for repairs and made-to-measure shoes, which soon became famous. And so he began to design footwear for the cinema.

Directors such as DeMille and Griffith featured his cowboy boots, Roman sandals and moccasins in their silent movies.

He improvised with unorthodox materials. He made shoes using hummingbird feathers and tree barks, fashioned heels to look like corkscrews, and after the discovery of King Tut's tomb, inverted pyramids.

Ferragamo's thriving reputation as "Shoemaker to the stars" only partially satisfied him. He could not fathom why his shoes pleased the eyes, yet hurt the foot, so he proceeded to study anatomy at the University of Southern California and learned that the weight of the body falls on the arch of the foot. After some experimentation, he perfected a steel arch support that he inserted into the instep of every shoe.

Ferragamo retired home in 1927, set up a shop in Florence, and hired expert craftsmen to carve lasts as well as skilled montatores to position the uppers by hand. Technical expertise was the heart of his business and preceded his entry into the world of fashion.

His most famous invention was probably the cork wedge, which paved the way for the inspired platform shoes he fashioned during the war. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, his styles- from a cage-shaped brass heel to wedge-shaped suede mules- filled the pages of the world's top fashion magazines. When Ferragamo died in 1960, he left behind 350 patents and a reputation as the man who revolutionized the modern shoe business. He wrote his autobiography, "Shoemaker of dreams".

The building where Salvator Ferragamo had his shop in Santa Barbara on 1033 State Street

Salvatore Ferragamo opens the Hollywood Boot Shop in Boulevard Las Palmas, Hollywood

The first Salvatore Ferragamo company starts in Florence

Lucio Venna advertisement for Salvatore Ferragamo, inspired by the discovery of the 'Villa Dei Misteri" in Pompei

The cork-wedge heel, invented by Salvatore Ferragamo, was the inspiration for the model created for Judy Garland

Salvatore ferragamo buys Palazzo Spini Feroni for 3,400,000 Lire and opens the Florence store in the same building. The same year stores are opened in London and Rome

During the war, Salvatore Ferragamo creativity expressed itself with humble materials, like raffia and cork.

Salvatore Ferragamo won the "Neiman Marcus Award", Fashion's Oscar, with the "invisible sandal".

For the actress Audrey Hepburn, Salvatore Ferragamo creates one of his most famous styles: suede ballerina with strap

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO TRAVELS TO AUSTRALIA LOOKING FOR CONTACT AND INSPIRATION. HE CREATES AN 18-KARAT GOLD SANDAL FOR AN AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMER.

The Salvatore Ferragamo dream, "Dress a woman from toes to head" continues through his wife and children.