SalvatoreFerragamo: classic, elegant, and has a long history
Generally, everyone’s understanding of the Ferragamo brand is limited to their Vara style (the black short heel in the picture). But Ferragamo’s contribution to the history of footwear goes far beyond that.
Salvatore Ferragamo was born in a poor family in 1898. Because his sister was going to attend a Catholic ceremony but could not afford shoes, Ferragamo borrowed some materials from a shoemaker and made a pair of shoes for his sister. From then on, he started making shoes. When he was 16 years old, he went to the United States and made customized shoes for many Hollywood stars. Ferragamo has been working on how to improve the comfort of shoes. During his lifetime, Ferragamo designed more than 350 patents, the most famous of which are CorkWedge (cork wedge) and Invisible Sandal (sandals made of nylon rope). The former has been borrowed by many brands, while the latter helped Ferragamo win NeimanMarcus, known as the Oscar of Shoes.
Giuseppe Zanotti: Tall, bold and domineering
The GZ brand is also very popular in China now. Giuseppe Zanotti was born in the Italian town of San Mauro Pascoli, a town with a glorious history of shoemaking. Many top Italian brands (such as Sergio Rossi and Gianvito Rossi mentioned below) originated here. Perhaps influenced by the environment since childhood, the young Zanotti gave up his job as a DJ and determined to become a shoe designer. He has designed shoes for brands such as Valentino, Dior and Roberto Cavalli. It wasn't until 20 years ago that he bought Vicini's shoe factory in the town where he was born and started to build his own brand. His shoe factory is still there today.
What is equally domineering is of course his design. Every pair of his shoes is amazing. He often pairs metal with cowhide. For example, his most popular casual shoes in China use large pieces of gold metal to create a sharp contrast with the leather or suede uppers, which are eye-catching.
In addition to metal sheets, Zanotti is also good at using metal carvings to embellish shoes. In the style shown below, Zanotti placed multiple delicate leaves on the straps of the feet, giving the otherwise ordinary black high-heeled shoes a shining light and a distinctive noble temperament.
It is worth mentioning that Giuseppe Zanotti’s women’s shoes are all narrow. Because Zanotti believes that women’s feet should be narrow, his shoe lasts are narrower than those of other brands (I will share with you the knowledge of shoe construction next time, but the shoe last is the mold for the foot shape used in shoe molding).
Sergio Rossi: Noble and beautiful
Sergio Rossi’s shoes are so beautiful that they make you want to cry. Next to the Plaza de Espa?a in Rome, there is a Sergio Rossi store, with their most classic diamond-encrusted Mermaid on the window display. It is this Mermaid (Chinese translation of Mermaid) that makes hundreds of tourists stop and hold their breath every day. Even men can’t help but take pictures of it.