Ferragamo’s Hollywood Roots
Hollywood and high fashion have always gone hand in hand, and many a star designer career has been launched from the red carpet - meet Salvatore Ferragamo, who first became famous as a Hollywood shoe designer. Ferragamo found his passion at age nine, making his first pair of shoes for his sister’s confirmation because his family could not afford the required pair of white shoes for her.
Ferragamo came to America from Italy to join his brothers at age 16 and they eventually found their way to Hollywood. He and his brothers became known for their quality craftsmanship, and with a few key Hollywood connections, Ferragamo was tapped to make boots for a production company that produced westerns. His comfortable, well-designed footwear earned him high compliments from director Cecil B. DeMille. Other projects followed, such as The Thief of Baghdad, The Ten Commandments, and King of Kings.
Along the way Ferragamo picked up star clients, like Lottie Pickford, who referred her mor famous sister, Mary, and in 1923 opened up shop in Hollywood across the street from the Egyptian Theatre. His client roster soon became a Who’s Who List of Hollywood actors, with Gloria Swanson, John Gilbert, Barbara LaMarr, Douglas Fairbanks, Pola Negri, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Joan Crawford, and Dolores Del Rio. Although Ferragamo palled around with his clients on the weekends, he firmly declared that “The world’s stars don’t come to my salon to buy my reputation; they come to buy shoes that fit and flatter them.”
Silent starlet Lola Todd bought into the leopard craze, and commissioned a pair of custom leopard shoes from Salvatore Ferragamo to match her head-to-toe leopard ensemble.
Although Ferragamo went on to serve clients like Gloria Swanson, Gene Tierney, Paulette Goddard, Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Laurel Bacall, and Sophia Loren, Ferragamo’s Hollywood fling was over by 1926. He returned to Italy to service the world’s wealthiest clients, but continued to be popular with movie stars - what could be more iconic that designing the pumps and sandals Marilyn Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the notorious skirt scene in The Seven Year Itch?
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