Inside Florence's 'Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960' Exhibition

One century after the grand opening of Salvatore Ferragamo’s famous Hollywood storefront, the designer’s namesake brand has cut the ribbon on a retrospective exhibition detailing his ingenious life’s work. Residing inside Museo Ferragamo at the House’s Florence headquarters, Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 looks to celebrate the visionary’s “pioneering spirit, his iconic creations and connections and his extraordinary vision of invention and innovation” through nine rooms.

The exhibition includes an abundance of archival designs, as well as an inside look at Ferragamo’s own research, which ultimately led to the myriad breakthrough moments in his career. It’s a physical manifestation of the designer’s mindset: “his anatomical studies, expert workmanship and decorations, experimentation with color, his bold research into shapes and materials and the diverse artistic and cultural inspirations that eventually brought Salvatore back to Florence, Italy, in 1927,” per the exhibition’s official description.

Section I explores the founder’s personal story, beginning with his birth in Bonito in 1898 and ending with his premature passing in 1960. Notably, thanks to 38 years of diligent biological research, the exhibition includes particularly detailed depictions of Ferragamo’s life in the first half of the 20th century.

Section II, titled “Hollywood Boot Shop,” houses photographs, videos and physical shoes from the designer’s time in Hollywood, from 1923 to 1927; and Section III highlights his materials and inspirations, with an abundance of hides, objects and artworks that served as the starting point for some of the shoemaker’s most iconic designs.

Later on, Section IV focuses on Ferragamo’s scientific studies on the foot’s structure, which heavily informed the constructions of his shoes. Through his research, he was able to develop new solutions for footwear support based on body weight and distribution, and the room includes the anatomical drawings that lead to his industry-leading conclusions. Section V, meanwhile, is much smaller, with just eight signature shaped shoes that are rid of any and all decoration. Here, the exhibition spotlights the designer’s architectural study of the shoe itself.

“Patents,” or Section VI, is filled with all of the designer’s inventions — and the patents he obtained for them. With 369 filings to be exact, Ferragamo is responsible for a bounty of innovative footwear creations, including the cork wedge heel, the cage heel and the shell-shaped sole. Section VII then nods to the artisans’ expert craftsmanship, lauding the brand’s “Made in Italy” identity.

As the retrospective winds down, Section VIII demands attention with its kaleidoscopic interior. Dubbed “Creativity in Colour,” the room recognizes the vastness of Ferragamo’s archive through vivid stripes of yellow, black, emerald, blue, gold, silver and the designer’s favorite color, red. Finally, Section IX wraps up with some of the visionary’s most-photographed designs for famous movie stars, aristocrats and international jet-setters. With one glance across the expansive, glass-protected showcase, onlookers quickly realize that Ferragamo rightfully earned his nickname, “Shoemaker to the Stars.”

Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 is now open at Museo Ferragamo, located at Piazza di Santa Trinita in Florence. The gallery is expected to remain open through November of this year. Take a look inside the commemorative exhibition above.