Beyond Florence offers shopping experiences that combine the art and fashion worlds.
The best way to fully understand the value of an iconic brand is to learn of the life and times of the man or woman who created it.
Florence is the land of some of the greatest names in the history of international fashion.
I truly recommend to visit “1927 Salvatore Ferragamo Returns to Italy” exhibit which is hosted into Palazzo Spini Feroni from May 19th,2017 until May, 2nd 2018.
In
1914, sixteen year old Salvatore undertook the long journey from
southern Italy to the United States to live with his brother who worked
in a cowboy boot factory in Boston. (Yes, I know! A cowboy boot factory,
of all things, in Massachusetts. Go figure!)
From Boston, Salvatore travelled to California where he finally landed in Hollywood.
He began making shoes and boots for the film industry using the traditional techniques he had learned as an apprentice in Naples.
The
movie stars were so impressed by the quality of his shoes that they
began ordering their own custom footwear directly from the designer. And
this is how his reign as the “Shoemaker of the stars” began.
Loyal
Ferragamo clients at that time included Greta Garbo, Mary Pickford and
Joan Crawford. (Over the years, other divas of the silver screen would
join them: names like Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren.
He also created some of the most legendary shoes ever seen in films. Dorothy’s ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz and Marilyn Monroe’s stilettos in The Seven Year Itch were also made by Salvatore Ferragamo).
By
1927, the designer was so popular that he was not able to keep up with
the demand for his creations. For that reason Salvatore moved his
business to Florence – a city which had traditionally trained the
artisans he needed to make his couture shoes.
In
commemoration of his return to Florence 90 years ago, The Ferragamo
Museum is celebrating with this exhibit whose leitmotif is Travel and displays a slice of life in Italy during the 1920s.
At that time Florence was an artistic and cultural polestar that hosted the ‘Renaissance’ of the artisanal profession and time-honoured Italian tradition.
I am completely spellbound by this journey. I am surrounded by the glamorous and intriguing footwear created in those years, works of art, pieces of exquisite mastery and artistry, fabric, photographs and advertising posters.
Shoes…tradition and the innovation of a brand that has made Florence an international hub for the quality, status and beauty of the fashion world.
#beyondflorence
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