D.O.B: 1898-06-05
D.O.D: 1960-08-07
Salvatore Ferragamo (5 June 1898 – 7 August 1960) was an Italian shoe designer and the founder of luxury goods high-end retailer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. An innovative shoe designer, he established a reputation in the 1930s. In addition to experimenting with alternative materials such as fish skin, he drew on historic inspiration for his shoes. After studying shoemaking in Naples for a year, fourteen year old Ferragamo opened a small store based in his parents' home. In 1915, he emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where one of his brothers worked in a cowboy boot factory. After a brief stint at the factory, he convinced his brothers to move to California, first Santa Barbara then Hollywood. It was there that he found success, initially opening a shop for repair and made-to-measure shoes, leading to a long period of designing footwear for the cinema. Reluctant to accept that his shoes could be beautiful but uncomfortable to wear, he studied anatomy at the University of Southern California. After spending thirteen years in the US, Ferragamo, now thirty-three...