Salvatore Ferragamo for Marilyn Monroe | Vintage Italian Shoes

The Icon – Marilyn Monroe

Obviously Miss Monroe didn’t love just any type of shoes, but she loved the best, the ones made especially by the maestro of high heels: Salvatore Ferragamo. The esteemed Italian designer crafted lust-worthy designs that have adorned the feet of every starlet worth her sequins since the 20s, from Garbo to Gaga.

Marilyn’s Glittery Heels by Ferragamo

All over the world in the post-war period, the shoes of Salvatore Ferragamo became a symbol of Italy’s reconstruction through design and production. These were years of memorable inventions: the metal-reinforced stiletto heels made famous by Marilyn Monroe, gold sandals, and the invisible sandals with uppers made from nylon thread.

Salvatore Ferragamo with Marilyn Monroe

California was a dreamland in those years and so was its film industry. Salvatore began to design and make shoes for cinema. Meanwhile Salvatore himself, in his constant search for ‘shoes which fit perfectly’ studied human anatomy, chemical engineering and mathematics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

A young Salvatore Ferragamo working

Ferragamo with Mannequins wearing his Collection

Ferragamo and his Hollywood Stars Shoes

This past June 2012, at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Florence, a collection of Marilyn’s shoes designed by the Maestro went on display. Until April 1, this exhibit gives visitors a chance to see how, through his shoes, Salvatore Ferragamo helped create the intensely sensual image of Marilyn, a woman he likened to Venus, the Greek Goddess of beauty.

Marilyn in Red

Marilyn Monroe