2022-2023
WOMEN IN BALANCE
A hundred years have elapsed since Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first store in Hollywood in 1923, across from Grauman’s Egyptian Theater, confirming the success that he had reached in the United States where he had emigrated in 1915. In its main hall, the Egyptian Theater hosted theatrical performances and all the Hollywood premiers, including The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who asked Ferragamo to design and make the shoes for the main characters. From that moment on, the young Italian would be known as the “Shoemaker to the Stars” and would become a major player in international fashion, and Ferragamo’s production would diversify into three lines: shoes for the movies, for the theatre and for the ballet.
To commemorate this special anniversary, the new Museo Ferragamo exhibition, Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960, recounts the illustrious artisan’s story, like the first Salvatore Ferragamo retrospective held in 1985 at Palazzo Strozzi, which then travelled to other prestigious venues, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum Bellerive in Zurich, the Los Angeles County Museum in California, the Sogetsu Kai Foundation in Tokyo and the Museo des Bellas Artes in Mexico City. The earlier Ferragamo exhibition ushered in a new way of seeing fashion as a conduit for a cultural message brimming with value and meaning. While Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 covers the same time period as the previous exhibition – from 1898, when Ferragamo was born, to his premature death in the summer of 1960 – the two exhibitions offer different perspectives and content.
In the previous exhibition, the shoes made by Ferragamo were displayed chronologically as artworks, with very little reference to the creative and social context in which they had been designed. Today, these creations are presented not only to highlight their aesthetic value but also as artifacts attesting to their creator’s skills as an entrepreneur and innovator, his passion for colour, knowledge of the anatomy of the human skeleton and specifically the foot, fine craftsmanship, exploration of new materials and many sources of inspiration from the art world and ancient and contemporary culture, all of which distinguished Salvatore Ferragamo’s work and life.
That first exhibition in 1985 led to the Ferragamo Archive, a home for the products and documents that bear witness to the Ferragamo company’s journey and the people who have played a prominent part in its story. In 1995, it led to Museo Ferragamo, a museum that conserves and promotes the story of the brand and its founder through meetings, publications, workshops and exhibitions meant to convey the experience and testimony of the past in the present, sparking and influencing conversations and reflections on contemporary issues.
This project is the culmination of a study that not only traces back over the life and work of Salvatore Ferragamo but also examines the role of the corporate museum and the curating that accompanies it. It touches on intersections that, on one hand, highlight Ferragamo’s contribution to the rebirth of craftsmanship and the emergence of a Made in Italy movement in the post-war period and, on the other, emphasize how Italian design, expressed through, inter alia, Ferragamo shoes, owes its success to the masterful union of decorative and artisanal tradition, functionality and technological innovation.
The study of Salvatore Ferragamo’s personal library has fuelled new reflections. The publications in his collection reveal an undeniable and innate ability to perceive society’s more progressive messages, along with a philosophy of life and work that underscore a deep, broad understanding of the world governed by a unique and universal divine knowledge.
In this way, Museo Ferragamo, as an institution in the fashion world - a complex and versatile system in and of itself - has conveyed its mission of preserving the vital, dynamic dialogue between the company and its public. This project is a summary of these steps, juxtaposing the objects, documents, thoughts and inspiration with the original exhibition that first generated all these materials and, consequently, inspired reflection.
Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 is therefore much more than an exhibition. It is a film reel of our past, a step back to explore the role of a museum and the curating that accompanies it.
Claire tabouret, Portrait of Wanda Miletti Ferragamo, 2022, acrylic and ink on paper.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo, 1961.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
The Ferragamo family on the roof of palazzo Spini Feroni, 1983. in front: Fiamma, Wanda, and Fulvia; behind: Giovanna, Leonardo, Ferruccio, and a mannequin
Aldo Londi for Bitossi Ceramiche, The Brambilla family, 1960, red clay shaped by hand, carved details, 46 x 30 x 13 Ø cm.
Montelupo Fiorentino (Florence), Archivio Aldo Londi
Italian Family, by Rocco Gurrieri and Irene Montini, run time 9’10’’, B/W, 4:3. Images from Istituto Luce, RaiTeche and Archivio Rai in Rome.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Tavolo tondo 4991, assembly of tables at Kartell, 1964
kartell Museo, Noviglio (Milan)
Drawing of models, panel by Carla Badiali for the New York fashion show, 1950s
Como, Private collection
The objects fo the secretary.
Milan, Alessandro Pedretti design collection
Noviglio (Milan), Kartell Museo
Franz Marangolo, On the moon but with Bitter Campari, 1960s, advertising sketch in Indian ink and tempera, collage on paper board
Sesto San Giovanni (Milan), Galleria Campari
Alitalia stewardesses wearing the uniforms designed by the Fontana sisters, 1950s, B/W photograph on forex board.
Rome, ANPAN (Associazione Nazionale Personale Aero Navigante)
The Giussani sisters in their studio, 1966
Milano, Archivio Farabola
Cashiers at the Esselunga supermarket in Milan, 1957
Pioltello (Milan), Archivio storico Esselunga
Giosetta Fioroni, Family interior, 1960, pastels, pencil, coloured and aluminium paints on paper.
Rome, Archivio Giosetta Fioroni
Giosetta Fioroni, Birth of an Op Venus, 1965, oil on canvas.
Pesaro (PU), Collezione Mancini-Orio
Giosetta Fioroni, A woman in silence, 1964, pencil and aluminium and coloured paints on canvas.
Rome, Archivio Giosetta Fioroni
Gli oggetti del ripostiglio
Milano, Alessandro Pedretti design collection Noviglio (MI), Kartell Museo
Some bottles of Fratelli Branca dating back to the 1950s.
Milan, Archivio Storico Collezione Branca.
Some Martini bottles.
Chieri (Turin), Collezione Martini & Rossi, Archivio MARTINI
Kitchen ceramics.
Milan, Alessandro Pedretti design collection Milan, Galleria Compasso
A few pages of advertisements by Erberto Carboni for Barilla pasta from 1956 to 1958.
Parma, Archivio Storico Barilla-Parma
Wanda Miletti Ferragamo’s recipe notebook.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Frames from the movie Il segno di Venere, directed by Dino Risi, 1955
Frame from the movie La bella di Lodi, directed by Mario Missiroli, 1963
Photos from the set of Guendalina, directed by Alberto Lattuada, 1957
Women in balance: today, directed by Giorgia Benazzo, 2022, run time 22’00” (exhibition version), colour, 16:9.
A production by Rampello & Partners Creative Studio for Museo Salvatore Ferragamo.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Rita Pavone, Stasera Rita, 1965
Gli oggetti della camera dei ragazzi
Firenze, Collezione privata Milano, Alessandro Pedretti design collection
Footwear created by Salvatore Ferragamo and his daughter Fiamma from 1955 to 1965.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
Alma Maria Lami, circular skirt, c. 1951, cotton with applications and embrioidered morifs of women practicing sport Collezione Enrico Quinto e Paolo Tinarelli, Rome; Myrcae, circular skirt, c. 1957, linen with fabric applications of comma motifs Collezione Enrico Quinto e Paolo Tinarelli, Rome; Roman Tailor’s shop, sleeveless day dress with circular skirt, c. 1955, cotton printed with geometric motif
Farani Sartoria Teatrale, Rome
Max Mara, Jacket and skirt, Fall/Winter Collection 1958, Mottled Shetland wool, Archivio d’Impresa Max Mara, Reggio Emilia; Max Mara, jacket and skirt, Fall/Winter Collection 1963, Achivio d’Impresa Max Mara, Reggio Emilia; Germana Marucelli , three-piece suit (jacket, skirt and waistcoat), Fall/ Winter Collection 1963, Collezione Enrico Quinto e Paolo Tinarelli, Rome; Bili for Cori, coat, C. 1962,
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
Curiel, Tapered Coat, 1960–65, Wool Cloth Costume Moda Immagine, Palazzo Morando, Milan; Giovanna Ferragamo, overcoat with zip and dress, c. 1966, Wool Jersey with Geometric Arrowhead Motif Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence; Giovanna Ferragamo, Double-Breasted Coat, 1960S, wool crepe
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence; Mila Schön, jacket and skirt, 1965, Wool cloth
Archivio A.N.G.E.L.O. – A.N.G.E.L.O. Vintage Archive, Lugo (Ravenna)
Max Mara, Jacket and skirt, Fall/Winter Collection 1958, Mottled Shetland wool, Archivio d’Impresa Max Mara, Reggio Emilia; Max Mara, jacket and skirt, Fall/Winter Collection 1963, Archivio d’Impresa Max Mara, Reggio Emilia; Germana Marucelli , three-piece suit (jacket, skirt and waistcoat), Fall/ Winter Collection 1963, Collezione Enrico Quinto e Paolo Tinarelli, Rome; Bili for Cori, coat, C. 1962.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence
Carosa, 1955-1959, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, Museo della Moda e del Costume; Simonetta, 1955–60, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, Museo della Moda e del Costume; Sorelle fontana alta moda, created for donna Marella Caracciolo Agnelli.
Archivio fondazione Micol Fontana, Rome
2021-2022
SILK
For five thousand years, the thin, shiny thread generated by the slime of a lepidoptera has spawned the most beautiful of fabrics, the silk, symbol of royalty, elegance and luxury, tool of exchange between East and West, emblem of civilization and culture. And it is above all in the carré-shaped neck handkerchief, due to its nature as a "painting", that Fashion and the textile industry experimented with an infinite range of creative solutions, always looking for original and exclusive designs. This exhibition aims to reveal the long and complex process that leads to the creation of a printed silk scarf, the perfect union of extraordinary creative intuition and high-level industrial craftsmanship, taking as its example the Maison Salvatore Ferragamo, an Italian fashion company that has made this accessory, together with the tie, one of the most widely-acknowledged vectors of its style.
Until 1950, the Ferragamo name was synonymous with women’s footwear. The brand’s founder, Salvatore, dreamed of transforming his internationally renowned brand into a fashion label that dressed a woman from head to toe. His dream came true, but only after his death. Indeed, it was one of his daughters, Fulvia, who launched in the 1970s the continuous production of women’s and men’s silk accessories with personalized patterns characterized by prints made in Como with exclusive decorative subjects, especially flowers and exotic animals formed by a patchwork of flowers.
Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Were creatures born celestial?, 2020, chalk drawing on paper.
Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Rhino, 2012, fiberglass sculpture.
Lion (Panthera leo), Zimbabwe, 1986, naturalized specimen.
Ivo Bazzechi, Portrait of Fulvia Ferragamo, 1971, color photograph.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Peonie, Spring/Summer collection 2000, silk twill scarf.
Chinese context, Flowers and Birds, first half of the eighteenth century, tempera on paper glued onto canvas.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Elefante, Fall/Winter collection 1988–89, silk crêpe de chine scarf.
Indian manufacture, Elephant statuette with palanquin, nineteenth century, lacquered and painted papier-mâché.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Samurai, Fall/Winter collection 1989–90, silk twill scarf.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Japonica, Spring/Summer collection 1996, silk twill scarf.
Drawing for the Japonica scarf, 1995, pencil and tempera on paper.
C. Susini and F. Calenzuoli, Camellia japonica, eighteenth–nineteenth century, waxworks plant in porcelain vase.
Look back Anouk
2021
Rocco Gurrieri and Irene Montini.
Look back Anouk
2021
Rocco Gurrieri and Irene Montini.
Look back Anouk
2021
Rocco Gurrieri and Irene Montini.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Pantera, Fall/Winter collection 1985–86, crepe de chine scarf.
Paul Jouve and Charles Terrasse, Paul Jouve (Paris: le Livre de Plantin, 1948), p. 163.
Richard Lydekker, The Royal Natural History (London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co., 1893–94), p. 389.
Drawings by Leonardo Filippini, student of Liceo Artistico di Porta Romana e Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), 2020–21, mixed techniques.
Drawings by Marialuce Toninelli, student of Liceo Artistico di Porta Romana e Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), 2020–21, mixed techniques.
Drawings by pietro Pozzi, student of Liceo Artistico di Porta Romana e Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), 2020–21, mixed techniques.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Shoes, Spring/Summer collection 1989, silk twill scarf.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Diva, 1941, sea leopard sandal, cork wedge heel covered in the same material.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Décolleté prototype, 1930, antelope decorated with painted circles, bordered by chain-stitch silk thread.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Volpe, Fall/Winter collection 1987–88, crepe de chine scarf.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Giaguaro, Fall/Winter collection 1988–89, silk twill scarf.
Salvatore Ferragamo, (from left) Trench coat, Fall/Winter collection 1985-86, polyester printed with Pantex scarf design and Trench coat, Fall/Winter collection 1988-89, beige cotton gabardine with wool lining printed with Giaguaro scarf design.
2019 - 2021
SUSTAINABLE THINKING
“Sustainability” defines the human capacity to meet “the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It is a challenge that is not limited to production methods but also implies a greater focus on the overall environment. Equilibrium must be restored, beginning with a more aware and shared way of thinking that is capable of engendering new strategies of development and co-existence.
The aim of the Sustainable Thinking project is to make people reflect on these themes through visions of art and fashion. Numerous artists look at sustainability, some focusing on recovering our relationship with nature, the use of organic materials, the need for a creative re-use of materials or relations between nature and technology, while others are looking at the importance of a collective commitment to refounding society overall. The fashion industry, for its part, embarked upon the path towards sustainability some years ago, not just through a new generation of designers but also through innovative approaches adopted by luxury brands with a consolidated market presence, using new high-performance ecological materials and optimizing production processes.
The exhibition provides an opportunity for artists, fashion designers, textile and yarn manufacturers to offer a plurality of gazes inspiring new projects capable of using new technologies rather than submitting to them, of adopting a glocal approach, and of safeguarding our ecosystem.
Hand made sandal in crocheted organic cotton, wooden heel and platform in layers covered in the same material
Certification ISO 14067/ Certification GOTS - Global Organic Textile Standard Firenze, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
Poupées Pascale, 2011, crystal, mixed media.
Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana
RÆBURN by Christopher Raeburn REMADE total look 2011-2018.
Outfit consisting of 11 REMADE garments and accessories repurposed from military materials and belonging to the brand’s past collections.
Courtesy Christopher Raeburn, London
Maria Sole Ferragamo Artemisia 2018
Long dress made from waste leather from Salvatore Ferragamo, Guterman thread, 100% polyester, Made in Germany, a water-based glue for leather goods and sealent
Courtesy Maria Sole Ferragamo, Firenze
El Anatsui Energy Spill 2010.
Aluminium wire, copper wire, and bottle tops
Private Collection
Section 6 - Innovation
For this room, fabrics, dresses and accessories have been selected that introduce a new generation of cutting-edge materials and technologies, results of a vision that integrates innovation, responsibility, nature and creativity. to social innovation
First room of the exhibition in which a total immersion in the world of sustainability is offered.
Invasion, the installation by Pascale Marthine Tayou, opens the exhibition with its colourful “contaminated landscape” made up of heterogeneous figures and materials.
Tayou’s extensive use of plastic arises from its pervasive polluting diffusion all over the planet. Thus, just like pollution, in Colorful line C a dense cloud of smoke made up of coloured straws invades the museum’s space, released by mysterious African personages. Crystal Poupées Pascale are raised up from the ground on high wooden bases that are tree trunks displaying the geographical coordinates of some of the most polluted places in the world, while masks peek out from the plastic cloud above the visitors' heads.
Andrea Verdura, Love you Ocean, 2018.
Boot made from recycled fishing nets, sole made from recycled rubber and agglomerated cork, cedar wood heel.
Courtesy Andrea Verdura, Fucecchio (Florence).
2018 - 2019
ITALY IN HOLLYWOOD
The story told in this exhibition, which analyzes the presence of Italians in California in the early decades of the twentieth century and the influence they exerted in various sectors (from architecture to art, from crafts to the burgeoning film industry), began in 1915, the year Salvatore Ferragamo arrived on the sunny West Coast. That same year the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in San Francisco, where Marcello Piacentini's Cittadella Italiana made waves and marked the beginning of the powerful and lasting influence of the Renaissance style on the local architectural language. Against the backdrop of Italian emigration to the States—the fil rouge running through the entire book—and of a Hollywood on its way to becoming the world capital of the young film industry, the volume tells of personalities who were already myths in their day, such as Rudolph Valentino, Enrico Caruso, and Lina Cavalieri; cinematic milestones like Cabiria, Romola, and Ben-Hur; the Star System and iconic directors; the important part played by Italian musicians in the birth of jazz; and the thousands of Italians who worked “behind the scenes,” making a vital contribution to the creation of the Hollywood myth. This complex story, told both in words and in images, paints a varied and multifaceted picture of the “set” on which the Shoemaker of Dreams began his thrilling creative adventure in America.
Amleto Cataldi, Wheat, 1909, bronze.
Rome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale.
Hugo Ballin, Enrico Caruso’s portrait, 1960, oil on canvas and masonite.
The Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Poster for the film The Eagle, directed by Clarence Brown in 1925, offset print.
Collezione Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to the Hollywood boot shop of Salvatore Ferragamo and his customers.
In 1923 Salvatore opened his own store in Hollywood.
Upon his arrival in the city he chose a club on Hollywood Boulevard, which already sold shoes under the Hollywood Boot Shop label. He did not change the name, but transformed the décor, inserting classic columns, neo-Renaissance furniture and a large sofa in order to create an intimate atmosphere giving the environment the appearance of an Italian palace.
Arturo Martini, Lillian Gish’s portrait, 1929, terracotta.
Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro, Venice.
Section dedicated to Beauty; elegance, theatrical gesture, culture: The Italian charm.
This part of the exhibition is dedicated to those Italians who emigrated to Los Angeles who became famous in the nascent film industry in nearby Hollywood.
Screen printed porcelain plates by Piero Fornasetti, entitled Theme and variations that depict the face of Lina Cavalieri, Italian opera singer famous in the United States and California at the beginning of the twentieth century, 1952-1966.
Fornasetti Archive, Milan.
In the first section of the exhibition are screened some scenes taken from the biblical and classical subject film, Cabiria, one of the most famous kolossal in the history of cinema, directed by Giovanni Pastrone in 1914, a source of inspiration for the films of Intolerance by David Wark Griffith in 1916 and the Ten Commandments of 1923 by Cecil B. DeMille, for which Salvatore Ferragamo created the sandals worn by the protagonists.
Pictured from left: Moloch Temple Model in Cabiria; Hebrew pectoral, 1916. From one of the stage costumes from the movie Intolerance, gilded bronze and embedded glass gems, Larry McQueen, Los Angeles; Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal, 2013, fac simil of the footwear made in 1923 for the film The Ten Commandments.
2017 - 2018
The return to Italy
Salvatore Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1927 after twelve years in the United States. In 2017, to mark the ninetieth anniversary of his homecoming, the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo presented an exhibition offering an overview of the 1920s, a decade now recognized as an authentic forge of open-minded ideas and experimentation free of ideological constraints and prejudices. Ferragamo chose to settle in Florence in virtue of its acknowledged centrality in the geography of Italian taste and style at a time in which the word “return” was especially meaningful: the return to order in the arts, the return to professional skill and to the great national tradition. Developed in chapters like a coming-of-age story, the exhibition focuses precisely on this trend in the culture of the period. It takes Ferragamo’s voyage on an ocean liner back to Italy as its guiding thread: a metaphor of his mental journey through the Italian visual culture of the 1920s, the source of the themes and works that were to influence his poetic vision directly or indirectly. At the same time, it also encompasses all the cultural and social facets that distinguished Italy’s rebirth after the Great War, on the eve of the authoritarian regime imposed by Fascism.
Entrance to Museo Salvatore Ferragamo located in Piazza Santa Trinita 5R with the exhibition banner.
This room of the exhibition focused on the body as the aesthetic instrument of dynamism, a core theme in twentieth-century culture in the late 1920s.
Featured: Thayaht (Ernesto Michahelles), The diver, 1932, Painted plaster, metal base.
Rovereto, Mart – Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to the return of Salvatore Ferragamo to Italy. Aftre 11 years spent in the USA,in 1927 Salvatore came back in Italy, aboard of Rome, one of the great transatlantic of the Italian General Navigation.
In the foreground some models of the period made by Salvatore Ferragamo.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to women's emancipation in Italy in the first post-war period. On display is a female-type wardrobe, paintings and photographic portraits of famous women that influenced and characterized the decade.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to folklore and decorative arts in Italy during the 1920s.
Pictured: Wedding and festive costumes, Ollolai, Sardinia, 1910-1911.
Museo Nazionale delle Arti e tradizioni popolari, Rome.
Section dedicated to the body and its aesthetics in the twenties through works of art of the period.
In the foreground: Luciano Baldessari, Luminator, 1929. Italian Textile Stands at the Barcelona International Exhibition.
2016 - 2017
Across Art and Fashion
The exhibition conceived and curated by Fondazione Ferragamo and Museo Salvatore Ferragamo explores the complex relationship between art and fashion. Drawing on the life story of Salvatore Ferragamo, whose fascination with twentieth century avant-garde art led him to find inspiration in the world of art and collaborate with many of the artists of his time, this project presents case histories in an analysis of the ways in which these two worlds interact through contamination, overlapping and collaboration, from the work of the Pre-Raphaelites to that of the Futurists and from the complexities of Surrealism to those of Radical Fashion, pausing for reflection on a few of the ateliers where artists met and studied in the Fifties and Sixties and the birth of celebrity culture. The exhibition then delves into the artistic experimentation of the Nineties and ultimately begs the question of whether, in today’s cultural industry, these worlds are still separate and distinct, or if they are now caught in a fluid role play.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Tirassegno, décolleté, 1958, suede with kid applications for tirassegno. Shoe model made for actress Marilyn Monroe, who takes inspiration from paintings created at the same time by the American artist Kenneth Noland.
Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2010, frame of doilies squared on the back, doilies arranged in a spiral on the front, knit fabrics, sequins, pot holders, vintage doilies and knit leggings. Emanuela Barilla Collection, Parma.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Gala, 1938, suede pump with toe in rhino horn, designed by Salvatore Ferragamo in 1938 and patented the following year.
Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to Salvatore Ferragamo and his footwear considered already in the thirties artifacts of artistic value, in which technical mastery goes hand in hand with conceptual creativity.
Elsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí, Evening dress, February 1937 collection, silk organza printed with lobster and parsley motifs. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Elsa Schiaparelli (1969).
Elsa Schiaparelli was open to the world of avant-garde artists and to an experimental and playful conception of fashion. The models that Dalí and Jean Cocteau designed for her nevertheless offered a reflection on the meaning of fashion and were included in highly inventive collections, in which the languages of Dada and Surrealism were used in an imaginative way. They were garments that were written about in the papers, launching the idea that a garment could be a work of art.
During the nineteenth century, fashion began to spread in cities with the contribution of the textile industry and new forms of commercial distribution. It was a total metamorphosis, which also started original forms of dialogue between art and fashion. Relations between the two worlds became closer and more frequent. Through a series of examples, the section proposes a path through this dialogue that has been taking place for more than a century.
In this section entitled Role-playing, fashion as art questions its practices through the work of a number of authors such as Hussein Chalayan, Martin Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Helmut Lang, Nick Cave.
Yohji Yamamoto, Top and skirt, Autumn/Winter 1991-2, irregular wooden slats and pieces of wool joined by hinges.
Yohji Yamamoto Inc., Tokyo.
2015 - 2016
A Palace and the city
In 2015, Florence celebrated the 150th anniversary of the start of its tenure as the capital of Italy. This was the ideal occasion to stage an exhibition and produce a catalogue on Palazzo Spini Feroni, which played host to the City Council and was, therefore, the place where those important decisions were taken that endowed the city with its current layout. In the mid-nineteenth century, the building found itself serving a public function for the first time, after centuries of private ownership, which began with Geri Spini – banker to Pope Boniface VIII – who wanted to manifest the power of his family through the construction of an imposing residence. As owners of the palazzo, the Spini were followed by the Guasconi, da Bagnano and Feroni aristocratic families, who commissioned magnificent decorative works, right up until the nineteenth century, when the dramatic palazzo became a luxury hotel, welcoming amongst many others Chancellor Metternich and Franz Liszt, before going on to become the seat of the Municipality of Florence, the site of the famous Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G. P. Vieusseux and the unpretentious residence of remarkable individuals, such as Girolamo Segato, the scientist who was well-known for his practice of “petrifying” human cadavers. In the twentieth century, when Salvatore Ferragamo purchased the building, the palazzo was given a new lease of life, accommodating craft workshops and high-fashion ateliers, along with famous art galleries showcasing artworks ancient and modern. The exhibition encompasses a number of prestigious artworks, endeavour to recount this complex history, benefitting from the input of specialists and of renowned set designer Maurizio Balò. The building, framed by the beauty of Florence, offers a snapshot of Italian culture and is today the global symbol of the Ferragamo fashion house, which is based there; this demonstrates that the talent of the Italians lives on thanks to the places where it is nurtured and works, providing proof positive that beauty generates beauty.
Anonymous Florentine, Genealogical Tree of the Spini Family, seventeenth century, oil on canvas.
Private collection, Florence.
School of Giovanni della Robbia, Portrait of Boccaccio, sixteenth century, glazed terracotta.
Museo Bellini Bellini private collection – Museo Bellini, Florence.
Giorgio de Chirico, Figura di donna (Female figure), 1932, oil on canvas.
Private collection.
Section entitled Salvatore Ferragamo and his palace.
When Salvatore Ferragamo arrived from America to Italy in 1927 he chose to settle in Florence because the city represented Italian craftsmanship and art in the world. In 1938 he bought Palazzo Spini Feroni, a central building in the history and panorama of the city since the Middle Ages.
Detail of the first room of the exhibition in which the room that housed before 1960 the Salvatore Ferragamo shoe archive was reproduced.
Section of the exhibition that tells the life of the three Art Galleries, Jesurum, Ciardiello and Bellini, which were located inside Palazzo Spini Feroni for a decade, from 1928 to 1938.
In their environments were organized very important exhibitions of ancient and contemporary art, which intended to make Florence the true antagonist of Paris.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to Dante Alighieri.
The set-up suggests the artist's study and alludes in the particular wallpaper on the walls, with gold lilies on a red field, to the taste of the mid-nineteenth century.
School of Giovanni della Robbia, Portrait of Dante, sixteenth century, glazed terracotta.
Bellini private collection – Museo Bellini, Florence
2014 – 2015
Equilibrium
The exhibition compares exceptionally fine and meaningful works of art in various media – painting, sculpture, photography, video, film and printing – along with documentaries and historic records, archive images and a series of interviews with well-known people of our time: Wanda Ferragamo, James Ferragamo, Jerry Ferragamo, Reinhold Messner, Eleonora Abbagnato, Will Self, Cecil Balmond and Philippe Petit.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
Featured: Roberto Barni, Impresa, 2010, glossy bronze
Property of the artist, Florence.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Viatica, red patent leather pump based on the shoe created by Salvatore Ferragamo in the Fifties for Marilyn Monroe, Autumn-Winter 2012-2013.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to the research carried out by Salvatore Ferragamo, his patents, the most important models, the studies on the arch of the foot carried out by Salvatore Ferragamo, always looking for the perfect solution to obtain the maximum comfort of the shoe able to guarantee the best posture.
In the foreground is an exaggerated reproduction of the cambrione, Salvatore Ferragamo's most famous invention: a steel foil, light but resistant, to be inserted in footwear to support the arch of the foot. With the help of the pendulum, like an architect, Ferragamo explained that the weight of the body falls right on the arch and it is this part of the shoe that must be supported.
Auguste Rodin, Saint JeanBaptiste, 1878, plaster.
Musée Rodin, Paris.
Photo credit: Christian Baraja.
Cecil Balmond, Equilibrium, curved stainless steel structure, stainless steel cables and stainless steel center knot plus two wooden plinths with mirrored acrylic sides. Installation made in 2014 for the exhibition Equilibrium.
2013 - 2014
The Amazing Shoemaker
This original exhibition carried visitors off into an imaginary land of traditional fairy tales and new stories created specifically for the event about shoes and the magical art of shoemaking. The theme of shoes and the shoemaking trade was the source of inspiration for contemporary artists, musicians, film makers and cartoon artists.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
Ann Craven, Shoe Portrait (Ferragamo, Ankle Boot, painted canvas, 1938), 2013, watercolor on paper.
Courtesy Ann Craven, New York.
L’Etrusco (Fernando Baldi), Advertising poster for Salvatore Ferragamo, 2013, acrylic and tempera on canvas. After the lost original made in 1951 and published in Modern Publicity 1950–1951 (London & New York: Frank A. Mercer & Charles Rosner, 1951).
Ann Craven, Shoe Portrait (Ferragamo, patchwork multicolor, 1942), 2013, watercolour on paper.
Courtesy of Ann Craven, New York.
Section of the exhibition hosting stage costumes, sketches, models of the animated short Film White Shoe.
Short film loosely inspired by an episode of salvatore Ferragamo's life (reported in his autobiography Il calzolaio dei sogni, 1957), written and directed by Mauro Borrelli.
In the room dedicated to fairy tales about shoes and the figure of the shoemaker, are exhibited the tables of the comic made for the exhibition by Frank Espinosa, Making of a Dream, 2013, about the life of Salvatore Ferragamo. Text and drawings, 26 boards and a color cover, mixed technique (acrylic/ gouache on pencil and china ink) on paper of different thicknesses, with details and inserts in rice paper.
Courtesy Frank Espinosa, New York.
Giambologna, Mercury, after 1580, probably early seventeenth century, Disc-welded bronze, fastened to simil-metal pedestal.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
2012 - 2013
Marilyn
Fifty years after the death of Marilyn Monroe, this exhibition showed images, film clips, and interviews, as well as never-before-seen documents and the famous actress’s shoes, clothing and personal effects. An extraordinary collection of portraits of Marilyn were considered in light of her powerful personality and surviving legend, whose greatness lies in her dual nature of spiritualised feminine ideal and pop icon.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni. Prague, Prague Castle Riding School.
Attributed to Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, Venus (after Giambologna), early eighteenth century, bronze.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
Nude Aphrodite Pudica, Dresden-Capitoline type, murble, first or second century Roman copy after the Greek original from the third century BC.
Museo Civico Archeologico, Albites Collection, Fiesole.
After Michelangelo, The Dying Slave, 1865, plaster cast.
Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence.
Section of the exhibition dedicated to the actress' clothes and stage shoes.
Section dedicated to the shoes that Salvatore Ferragamo made for the actress from 1954 until her death.
Antonio Canova, Sleeping Nymph, 1822, plaster.
Fondazione Canova onlus, Museo e Gipsoteca Antonio Canova, Possagno (Treviso).
2012
Secret Archives
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
The company’s invaluable archives and their content were shared in a stream of art and history, genius and technique in this exhibition, which examined Salvatore Ferragamo’s timeless appeal through documentation, machinery and the products made over time, emphasising the importance of upholding and valuing the company’s history.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
2011
Inspiration and Vision
Curated by Stefania Ricci and Sergio Risaliti.
What do the Cloak of scarlet ibis feathers, made in 16th century Brazil and part of Cosimo II de’ Medici’s collection, on loan from Florence’s Museo di Antropologia e Etnologia, Sonia Delaunay’s art and Andy Warhol’s drawings of shoes on gold paper have in common with Ferragamo shoes? The answer was revealed by delving deep into Salvatore Ferragamo’s imagination for the source of his creativity.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
2010 - 2011
A regola d’arte
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
A craftsman is more than a manual worker; he is someone who makes things well or, as one would say in Italian, ‘a regola d’arte’. This was the concept behind the exhibition that, by retelling the Salvatore Ferragamo company’s history, invited visitors to reflect on the values that have enabled a business founded on Florence’s longstanding tradition of fine handcraftsmanship and art to uphold this principle even as it moved forward to industrial production.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
2010
Greta Garbo. The Mistery of Style
This exhibition explored the legend of one of the film world’s greatest divas through her sophisticated wardrobe and the shoes that Salvatore Ferragamo designed for her from the 1920s on.
February-April 2010, Milan, Triennale di Milano, Design Museum.
May-October 2010, Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
Shoes made by Salvatore Ferragamo for Greta Garbo, who loved comfortable clothes and shoes. Among them is 'Greta' a creation with a seamless upper, soft toe and a simple buckle.
Wardrobe containing the actress' clothes and accessories.
Exhibited in this section of the exhibition, the costumes worn by the actress in the movies, recovered by institutions, museums and private collectors.
Section of the exhibition that welcomes the star's personal clothes and accessories, signed by Valentino, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy and other famous designers.
Detail of the section entitled A contemporary woman - here is highlighted the contemporary style of Greta Garbo.
2009
Australia behind the scenes
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
This exhibition was on the movie directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman, for which Salvatore Ferragamo created 20 different shoes inspired by original Salvatore Ferragamo styles of the time, which form part of Museo Salvatore Ferragamo’s collection.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
2008
Salvatore Ferragamo Evolving Legend 1928-2008
Curated by Stefania Ricci and Cristina Morozzi.
On the eightieth anniversary of Salvatore Ferragamo, this was a journey into the most iconic Salvatore Ferragamo products in 12 sections, covering shoes, bags, clothing, scarves and jewellery, along with the fundamental principles and values that have shaped the brand’s identity.
March-May 2008, Shanghai, Museum of Contemporary Art.
September-November 2008, Milan, Triennale Design Museum.
2006 - 2010
Creativity in Colours
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
The exhibition celebrated the vivid colours in the shoes and clothing of Salvatore Ferragamo, the brand that made the bright hues of nineteenth century avant-garde art a key element of its signature style.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
2006
Sueños que caminan / Walking Dreams.
Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960.
The first exhibition in Latin America on Salvatore Ferragamo’s creativity displayed 80 shoes created between 1924 and 1960.
Mexico City, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes.
2004 - 2005
A Love Affair with shoes
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
The exhibition, curated by Stefania Ricci, showcased Ferragamo’s creations for some of the world’s most famous international film actresses, reflecting their tastes, whims and personalities and, above all, the passion women have for shoes.
February 2004, New York flagship store.
April 2004, Hong Kong, Pacific Place.
October 2004, Taipei, Salvatore Ferragamo store.
November 2004, Osaka, Salvatore Ferragamo flagship store.
December 2004, Tokyo Salvatore Ferragamo flagship store.
March-April 2005, Singapore, Salvatore Ferragamo store.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Patent no. 469884. Ladies' sandal combined with a counter-shoe sticking to the foot, 17 October 1941.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Patent no. 426001. Shoe manufacturing procedure with the upper made out of seamless thread, twine, ribbon and the like, 17 October 1947.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Patent no. 21189. Ladies' sandal with multi-layer raised sole and connection between sole and heel, 23 July 1941.
Detail of the exhibition set-up.
Ferragamo patents and trademarks: a world of ideas and inventions recovered at the Central Archive of the State of Rome and exhibited together with the extraordinary footwear created by Salvatore Ferragamo.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Kimo, 1951, sandal with kidskin straps, with satin ‘kimo’ sock.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal, 1940, velvet trimmed in kidskin, wooden high heel and midsole covered in kidskin.
2003 - 2004
Game
Curated by Mariuccia Casadio and Stefania Ricci.
A Twenties-style shoe was both the subject and the object for this exhibition, in which 19 contemporary artists unleashed their creativity through various crafting techniques. Works by Vanessa Beecroft, Jeff Burton, Marta Dell’Angelo, Lara Favaretto, Angelo Filomeno, Sylvie Fleury, Luis Gispert, Mark Handforth, Brad Kahlhamer, Naoto Kawahara, Armin Linke, Amedeo Martegani, Gabriele Picco, Rob Pruitt, Tobias Rehberger, Andreas Schulze, Rosemarie Trockel, Hellen Van Meene and Pae White.
September 2003: New York Salvatore Ferragamo flagship store;
January 2004: Florence, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, Palazzo Spini Feroni;
April 2004: Tokyo flagship store;
October 2004: Milan, Salvatore Ferragamo women’s boutique.
2000
Shoes and famous feet
Curated by Stefania Ricci, the exhibition was devoted to the shoes that Ferragamo created for celebrities, from Hollywood stars to royal families, their favourite styles and the colours and materials he most often used.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
1999 - 2001
Audrey Hepburn: A Woman, the Style
The exhibition travelled the world, stopping in the following places:
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni
Sydney, Powerhouse Museum
In 2000
Tokyo, Nihombashi-Mitsukoshi Museum
Fukuoka, Mitsukoshi Museum
Kanazawa, Daiwa Museum
Hiroshima, Sogo Museum
Nagoya, Matsuzakaya Museum
Sapporo, Seibu Museum
Kobe, Daimaru Museum
Kyoto, Daimaru Museum
Osaka, Shinsaibashi-Daimaru Museum
Sendai, Fujisaki Museum
In 2001
Frankfurt, Deutsche Filmmuseum
Dresses and accessories worn by Hepburn on set and in private life, from the actress' personal collection, American studios and tailor French Hubert de Givenchy.
Dresses and accessories worn by Hepburn on set and in private life, from the actress' personal collection, made available by her children, American studios and tailor French Hubert de Givenchy.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Ballerina shoe, 1954, suede upper and kidskin strip, low oval heel and patent shell-shaped sole. The model was created for Audrey Hepburn
Dresses and accessories worn by Hepburn on set and in private life, from the actress' personal collection, made available by her children, American studios and tailor French Hubert de Givenchy.
Detail of an exhibition hall - photographic portraits of the actress in which the various authors highlight the particulateity of her face that made her so famous.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal, 1938, satin and kidskin, cork platform and wedge covered in velvet, with appliqué of a brass structure covered with rhinestones. The model was created for Indira Devi, Maharani of Cooch Behar.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Pump prototype, 1930, kidskin decorated with painted bubbles, edged in chain-stitch silk thread.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal, 1949-50, raffia upper, heel covered in kidskin.
Detail of the bamboo set-up designed by Teshigahara Hiroshi, Japanese artist, director and screenwriter.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal prototype, 1930, kidskin upper, brass heel.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Kimo, 1951, sandal with kidskin straps, with satin Kimo sock. Photograph by Ikko Tanaka.
1998
Cinderella: the shoe rediscovered
Curated by Michael Howells, Jenny Beavan and Stefania Ricci.
The exhibition, curated for the Florence fashion and film biennale, exploring the myth of Cinderella in film, music and literature through a Ferragamo shoe created for the movie Ever After - A Cinderella Story, directed by Andy Tennant (Twentieth Century Fox).
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
1997
Tanaka Ikko, la grafica del Giappone
Curated by Gian Carlo Calza.
For the first time in Italy, this exhibition showcased the work of one of the most important graphic artists in 20th century Japan.
Milan, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea.
1997
Materials and Creativity
Curated by Stefania Ricci.
Above all, Salvatore Ferragamo expressed his creativity in the materials he used, from the most luxurious to the humblest, from precious metals to cork and raffia.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
1996
Bruce Weber. Secret love
Curated by Germano Celante and Martin Harrison, this retrospective of the great American photographer was organised on the occasion of Florence’s Art and Fashion Biennale.
Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni.
1992
Salvatore Ferragamo. The Art of the Shoe
The retrospective exhibition travelled to the United States, where Salvatore Ferragamo had emigrated and forged a lifelong relationship with the budding Hollywood star system.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum.
1985
1985. Leaders of Fashion. Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960)
The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Galleria del Costume di Palazzo Pitti and the Centro Mostre of Florence and sponsored by the Department of Culture for the City of Florence. This was the retrospective exhibition that led to the creation of Museo Salvatore Ferragamo.
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Salvatore Ferragamo, Rainbow, 1938, kidskin sandal, heel and cork platform covered in suede. The model was made for Judy Garland.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Sandal, 1938, satin and kidskin, cork platform and wedge covered in velvet, with appliqué of a brass structure covered with rhinestones. The model was created for Indira Devi, Maharani of Cooch Behar.
Detail of one of the exhibition's rooms.
Sandals made by Salvatore Ferragamo in 1943 with platform and wedge heel in carved and hand-painted wood with geometric patterns.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Pump, 1958-1959, crocodile upper. The model was created for the american actress Marilyn Monroe.