Thursday, January 31, 2013

1939 | TRADATE SHOES BY GINO BOCCASILE |

1939 | TRADATE | Classy Shoes |
Drawing by Gino Boccasile
Source: I Desire Vintage Posters



1938 | ZENITH Shoes
by Gino Boccasile

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

S/S 1973 | HAUTE COUTURE ROME | COLETTE FOR BIKI

1973 | Colette for Biki
Parabiago, Milan

1973 | Colette for Biki
Parabiago, Milan

1973 | Colette for Biki
Parabiago, Milan


Le scarpe [Colette NdR] meritano un accenno particolare. Più basse, meno pesanti della scorsa stagione, senza rinunciare del tutto alle zeppe, hanno punte più affusolate, tacco più sottile e ve ne sono anche di bassissime, svelte e colorate in morbida pelle. Fiocchi alla caviglia, catenelle e cuoricini di metallo ornano le scarpe, i sandali scollatissimi di Colette per Biki. 
Lucia Sollazzo | Roma, 18 gennaio 1973
Source: La Stampa
The [Colette] shoes deserve a special mention. Lower heels, less heavy than the last season, they have more slender toes and thinner heels. Some are flats with colored soft leather. Flakes ankle chains and metal hearts adorn the décolleté sandals from Colette for Biki. 
Lucia Sollazzo | Roma, January, 18 1973
Source: La Stampa daily

1973 | COLETTE FOR BIKI
HAUTE COUTURE ROME

COLETTE | LA FLESSIBILE
INDEX

1971 | Biki with Sofia Loren
Grand Hotel Roma | Rome

"Nugoli di fotografi all'assalto per inquadrare Sophia Loren in maxi marrone e colbacco in zibellino, seduta al posto d'onore alla sfilata della Biki: la « moglie del prete » [dal titolo del film di Dino Risi, ndr] , fedelissima dell'haute couture francese, ha scoperto la moda italiana." 
Elsa Rossetti - La Stampa 21 gennaio 1971
Swarms of photographers assaulting Sophia Loren wearing a maxi brown coat and sable fur hat, sitting at the place of honor at Biki’s fashion show. The "priest’s wife” [Note: from the title of Dino Risi’s movie] faithful to French haute couture, has discovered the Italian fashion. 
Elsa Rossetti - La Stampa daily Jan. 21, 1971


Sunday, January 27, 2013

PRIMO LEVI [1919-1987] | SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ | 27 JANUARY 2013 | INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY |

27 GENNAIO 2013 | GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA |


1991 | Art Spiegelman
From: MAUS - A Survivor's Tale - My Father Bleeds History
Pantheon Books

Nè si creda che le scarpe, nella vita del Lager, costituiscano un fattore d'importanza secondaria. La morte incomincia dalle scarpe: esse si sono rivelate, per la maggior parte di noi, veri arnesi di tortura, che dopo poche ore di marcia davano luogo a piaghe dolorose che fatalmente si infettavano.
Primo Levi
Se Questo É Un Uomo | De Silva/Einaudi, 1947



And do not think that shoes form a factor of secondary importance in the life of the Lager. Death begins with the shoes; for most of us, they show themselves to be instruments of torture, which after a few hours of marching cause painful sores which become fatally infected. 
Primo Levi
Survival In Auschwitz | The Orion Press, 1959 |

2005 | GYULA PAUER & CAN TOGAY | SHOES ON THE DANUBE PROMENADE | 27 JANUARY 2013 | INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY |

27 GENNAIO 2013 | GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA

2005 | Shoes On The Danube Promenade | Gyula Pauer & Can Togay
Budapest,  Hungary
Source: TrekEarth | Photo by Alli Hemingway

The Shoes on the Danube Promenade is a memorial created by Gyula Pauer and Can Togay on the bank of the Danube River in Budapest. It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.
Source: Wikipedia

1991 | SUSANNA PIERATZKI | BIRTH | 27 JANUARY 2013 | INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY |

27 GENNAIO 2013 | GIORNO DELLA MEMORIA |

1991 | BIRTH by Susanna Pieratzki
Source: Footnotes On Shoes |  Rutgers University Press, 2001

A 1991 series of carefully staged black and white photographs titled PARENTS by Susanna Pieratzky, also of German-Jewish origin, depicts her parents, both of them survivors, in a sequence of symbolically significant poses, and accompanied by symbolically significant props that relate to their life experiences. Each photograph is given a number and a title - such as Birth, War, Remembrance - that allude to a terrible, yet elemental life cycle. 
Ellen Carol Jones
From "Empty Shoes", a chapter in the book "Footnotes On Shoes"
[Rutgers University Press, 2001]


Friday, January 25, 2013

S.S. 1973 | HAUTE COUTURE ROME | RAFFAELE SALATO FOR LANCETTI |

1973 | Raffaele Salato for Pino Lancetti
Rome

1973 | Raffaele Salato for Pino Lancetti
Rome

1973 | Taillerurs by Pino Lancetti
Sandals by Raffaele Salato
Rome

1973 | Raffaele Salato for Pino Lancetti
Rome

1973 | Pino Lancetti |
Silk dress to match the above Salato shoes

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

1971 | CALZATURIFICIO SICILIANO TRAPANI & CALZATURIFICIO SISE | FEAT. THE CLASSIC MOTO GUZZI V7 SPECIAL

1971 | CST (Calzaturificio Siciliano Trapani) 
Trapani (Sicily)
Motorcycle boots designed by Dallera

1971 | CST (Calzaturificio Siciliano Trapani) 
Trapani (Sicily)
Motorcycle boots designed by Dallera

Foto Shoe magazine
July 1971 #7
Dallera for CST

1971 | Calzaturificio SISE | Fucecchio, Florence
Source: Moda In Pelle magazine


Moto Guzzi V7 Special 750
Designed by Rinaldo Donzelli
Source: Cilindri Italiani


And here's the normal V7, Celestino Ferrario's bike of choice back in 1969. 


1969 | Celestino Ferrario
S. Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan
Feat. Moto Guzzi V7 (700cc)

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO | PART 3/3

Simone Signoret | Oscar winner
Source: LA Times


Tre anni dopo, altro viaggio cruciale. Nel 1959, grazie alla caparbietà di un impresario “cocciuto e testardo”, la coppia Montand – Signoret riuscì finalmente ad ottenere un visto per gli Stati Uniti, dopo anni in cui erano stati bollati dagli USA come persone non gratae per le loro prese di posizione filo-comuniste e per essere stati fra i sottoscrittori dell’appello di Stoccolma del 1950 contro gli armamenti atomici. Altra occasione per rifarsi il guardaroba:

“Ci rimaneva solo da preparare la nostra partenza per New York ...” 


Three years later, another crucial trip. 

In 1959, thanks to their "stubborn and headstrong" impresario, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret could finally obtain a U.S. visa. It happened after a few years of being unwelcomed because their pro-communist stance and for signing the Stockholm Appeal against nuclear weapons. 

Another opportunity for a new wardrobe:  

"We had just to pack for our departure to New York."



1958 | A model by Capobianco
Source: L'officiel

Montand, che allora non conosceva per nulla l’inglese, si spaccava la testa per imparare dei brevi testi che dovevano fungere da introduzione ai brani cantati nello show americano. 
“Dal canto mio ero impegnatissima. Misuravo magnifici vestiti da Lanvin, splendidi tailleurs da Hermès, e belle scarpe, di mezzo numero più grandi del mio, dal signor Capobianco, che mi trovava molto più allegra che al tempo degli stivali imbottiti e che sapeva, da donne eleganti di New York, che in quella città i piedi tendono a gonfiare spiacevolmente a causa dell’umidità”. 
“Il signor Capobianco aveva avuto più che ragione con la sua mezza taglia in più. Non aveva però previsto che col caldo peculiare del settembre newyorkese, il tacco a spillo avrebbe avuto la spiacevole tendenza ad affondare nell’asfalto, il che rallenta l’andatura della turista, macchia per sempre il delicatissimo capretto bianco ed eterna la prima uscita con una serie di buchini che formano una pista.”

Montand, who didn’t know English at all at that time, was trying hard to learn short speeches to introduce the songs for the American show. 
"As for me, I was very busy trying on marvelous dresses by Lanvin, delightful suits by Hermès and very nice shoes by Capobianco, half a size bigger than mine. I was much happier than the time of the trip to Moscow and Mr. Capobianco knew, from some elegant NY women, that the humidity in the City causes the feet to swell painfully." 
"Mr. Capobianco was so right about the half size. On the other hand, he didn't foresee the peculiar New York heat in September: unfortunately the stiletto heel tended to sink into the asphalt. And this slows down the pace of the tourist, it stains the delicate white kid forever and immortalize the first walk with a series of little holes that form a track."


1958 | Shoes and bag by Capobianco
Source: L'Officiel

Anche in questo caso, tournée trionfale per la coppia e inizio di un rapporto felice con gli States, che culminerà per Simone nel premio Oscar per il film La strada dei quartieri alti (Room At The Top). 

Once again a triumphant tour for the couple and the beginning of a happy connection with the States, which culminated for Simone with an Oscar award for the film Room At The Top.



SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO

PART 1

PART 2

Monday, January 21, 2013

1975 | BOL DOR | SAN LORENZO DI PARABIAGO, MILAN

1975 | BOL DOR by Enzio Cozzi
S. Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan


BOL DOR | SAN LORENZO DI PARABIAGO
I N D E X



1975 | BOL DOR by Enzio Cozzi
S. Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan

Sunday, January 20, 2013

1965 | ARMAN | UNTITLED |

1965 | ARMAN
Untitled | Multiple of cut shoes, mylar, and tape, in artist’s original display box
Source: MoMA

1965 | ARMAN
Untitled | Multiple of cut shoes, mylar, and tape, in artist’s original display box
Source: MoMA

Arman’s Untitled works pictured above, acquired by MoMA’s Department of Prints and Illustrated Books in May, are two examples from an edition of 100 published by Edition MAT in 1965. Each piece comprises a single shoe—cleanly bisected and carefully arranged, insides facing out—in an acrylic display case of the artist’s design. Take a close look at these works and you will see the guts of the shoes, so to speak: seams, layers of fabric, stuffing, and wood grain. Most of us wear shoes like these every day without ever getting to see (or stopping to think about) exactly what’s inside. In deconstructing and framing these shoes, Arman renders them useless while simultaneously elevating them to the status of art. By exposing the mutability of these humble shoes, He calls into question the viewer’s preconceived notions about the dichotomy between art and everyday life.
Source: MoMA


ARMAN'S SHOES
Photo by Cécilia Grimma
Source: Arman Studio

Arman [A.K.A. Armand Pierre Fernandez] was a member of the Nouveaux Réalistes, a group of artists whose members included Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Christo. The group’s manifesto, composed in October 1960, announced their search for “new ways of perceiving the real.” Seeking to bridge the gap between fine art and the everyday, the Nouveaux Réalistes utilized in their artworks processes and materials familiar from contemporary urban life.
Source: MoMA


ARMAN
1965 | SHOES & SHOES

SHOES & ART
1832 - 2009

2002 | Arman protesting Jean-Marie Le Pen
OH YES!!
Source: Arman Studio

Thursday, January 17, 2013

1967 | ANTONIO D'ANNA | NAPLES |

1967 | Creazioni Antonio D'Anna & C.
Naples

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

1967 | ABEL & GIORGI | BOLOGNA

La Creazioni Abel - storico calzaturificio del distretto bolognese - venne fondata da Abele Pancaldi nel 1948 a Bologna. Nel 1962 si trasferirono a Rastignano, una frazione del comune di Pianoro a una quindicina di km da Bologna, dove rimase attiva fino agli anni '70. Oltre che calzature, producevano anche articoli di pelletteria.

The Creazioni Abel was founded by Abele Pancaldi in Bologna back in 1948. In the year 1962 they moved to Rastignano, a small town 15 km south of Bologna. They also produced leather goods and they remained in business until the '70s.




1967
Shoes by ABEL | Rastignano (Bologna)
Bags by CESARE GIORGI (Bologna)

1955 | ABEL
Rastignano, Bologna



Notizie storiche sulla produzione calzaturiera nell'area bolognese si possono trovare in questi due libri:

More info about the historical Bolognese footwear production can be found in these books:

La montagna e la guerra: l'Appennino bolognese fra Savena e Reno, 1940-1945
Brunella Dalla Casa, Alberto Preti | Aspasia, 1999 
La montagna dopo la guerra: continuità e rotture nell'Appennino bolognese tra Idice e Setta-Reno : 1945-2000
Mauro Maggiorani, Paola Zagatti, Michelangelo Abatantuono | Aspasia, 2009

Monday, January 14, 2013

1967 | MANNORI | PISTOIA |

1967 | MANNORI
Pistoia

La Mannori fu fondata nel 1946 dall’abile calzolaio Marino Mannori, specializzato nella produzione di modelli di lusso con l’aiuto del fratello Dante. La produzione proseguì per anni nella sede di via Gora e Barbatole. Successivamente la famiglia si concentrò sull’attività commerciale - gestita dal figlio Walter fino alla morte di quest'ultimo avvenuta lo scorso anno - prima col negozio la “Superscarpa”, nel centro storico di Pistoia, poi nell’attuale sede di via Buozzi.

The Mannori company was founded in 1946 by the shoemaker Marino Mannori, specialized in the production of luxury models, helped by his brother Dante. The family then focused on the retail business, run by Marino’s son Walter until his death last year; the store was called "Superscarpa" in downtown Pistoia, later moved in the actual location (via Buozzi, Pistoia).

Sunday, January 13, 2013

1942 | MAN RAY | BROKEN CHAIR WITH STUMP AND BALLET SHOES |

Don't put my name on it. These are simply documents I make.
Man Ray


1942 | MAN RAY [A.K.A.  Emmanuel Radnitzky]
Broken Chair With Stump And Ballet Shoes
Source: J.Paul Getty Museum

Created for the June 1943 cover of the New York journal View, this composition of disparate elements encourages the viewer to invent his own narrative. A foreboding quality, created with shadows, solarization, and the inexplicable juxtaposition of abandoned satin dance shoes and a broken chair under a gnarled tree stump, pervades the picture.
[J.Paul Getty Museum]


VIEW | Edited by Charles Henri Ford & Parker Tyler 
Series III, NO. 2 (June 1943) | New York
Source: STEVEN FAMA


MORE
SHOES &
ART

Thursday, January 10, 2013

1967 | LADY CHRISTIAN | LIVORNO |

1967 | Lady Christian by Franco Franchi
Cecina (Livorno)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

1967 | BRINI | VARESE |

1967 | Calzaturificio Brini
Varese

1967 | Calzaturificio Brini
Varese

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO | PART 2/3

Simone Signoret | Photo by Jean Lattès
Source: Edition Chevre feuille étoilée


Simone Signoret, che amava viziarsi con creazioni dei grandi nomi francesi della moda, si affidava per le calzature a Capobianco. Questo bottier, che era uno dei più quotati in Francia a partire dal secondo dopoguerra, era tappa fissa alla vigilia dei grandi viaggi dell'attrice. In particolare quello del novembre del 1956 - nel clima politico infuocato dopo la dura repressione da parte dei carri armati sovietici dell’insurrezione di Praga - quando Yves Montand dovette iniziare una lunga tournée nei Paesi dell’Est organizzata da tempo con Simone Signoret al suo fianco. In quel periodo la Francia (come il resto dell’Europa) era politicamente spaccata in due e la progettata tournée era diventata oggetto di forti contestazioni.

Simone Signoret, who used to wear creations by the great names of the French fashion, relied on Capobianco for her footwear. This bottier, one of the most popular in France after World War II, was a regular stopover for the actress before her important journeys. Like the one in November 1956: in the fiery political climate after the invasion by Soviet tanks in Prague, Yves Montand was about to begin a long tour in the Eastern Europe organized long before and Simone Signoret had to accompany him. At that time France (like the rest of Europe) was broken down into two factions and the planned tour became the subject of strong disputes.



1956 | Yves Montand and Simone Signoret 
The Red Square | Moscow
Source : Larousse

I due coniugi tentarono fino all’ultimo minuto di rimandare la tournée, per i duri attacchi di cui erano oggetto e per l’incertezza della situazione ad Est:
“Ci rimaneva solo da fare i bagagli e trovare finalmente stivali e cappotti imbottiti che dall’inizio di quell’abominevole mese di novembre non erano più i nostri argomenti di conversazione preferiti (…). Il signor Capobianco, cui tengo a rendere omaggio, mi fabbricò due paia di stivali imbottiti a tempo da primato. Venne a casa mia a farmeli misurare e tentò di consolarmi. Ne avevo proprio bisogno. Piangevo di continuo.”

Given the uncertainty of the situation in the East Countries the couple tried until the last day to postpone the tour: 
“We had just to pack up and to find boots and padded coats which were no longer our favorite topics of conversation in that abominable beginning of November. (...) Mr. Capobianco, which I want to pay tribute to, made me two pairs of furred boots in record-breaking time. He came to my house to measure them and tried to console me. I really needed it. I was crying all the time.”

1956 |  A model by Capobianco
Source: L'Officiel

La tournée fu un successo ed è degna di nota la descrizione dell’universo sovietico come sono straordinariamente vividi i ritratti che emergono di nomi politici di primo piano incontrati dalla coppia, come Nikita Khrushchev e Josip Broz Tito.


The tour was a success and is worth of note the description she made of the Soviet universe as well as the vivid portraits of some leading politicians met by the couple, as Nikita Khrushchev and Josip Broz Tito.

 
SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO

PART 1

PART 3



Monday, January 7, 2013

1977 | MARY POPPS | S. ELPIDIO A MARE |


1977 | Mary Popps (formerly known as Mary Poppins)
S. Elpidio A Mare
Designed by Maurizio Mandozzi


The History of
Mary Poppins/Mary Pops
Part 1 | Part 2

Mary Poppins
At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art | NY

Friday, January 4, 2013

SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO | PART 1/3

Simone Signoret
Source Fanpix


La nostalgia non è più quella di un tempo è l’autobiografia raccontata nel 1976 dall’attrice Simone Signoret (1921–1985), che con vivace intelligenza ripercorse la propria storia e l’importante carriera artistica. La passione per il marito Yves Montand emerge su tutto con prepotenza, ma più che la sua vicenda personale, la narrazione è un percorso che cattura sotto una luce inusuale molte pagine della storia del Novecento, dagli anni fra le due guerre, l’occupazione tedesca della Francia, le divisioni politiche che segnarono il secondo dopoguerra, l’esperienza che Simone ed il marito vissero oltre cortina negli anni ’50. 

Anche a quasi quarant’anni di distanza dalla pubblicazione i racconti si rivivono con freschezza e si riscoprono i grandi artisti del Novecento, come Picasso, Giacometti, Prévert, Arthur Miller, Sartre o registi del calibro di Luis Buñuel e Max Ophüls,  la schiera dei colleghi-amici, fra i quali Serge Reggiani, Charles Trenet e una insolita Marilyn Monroe

Fra i personaggi ricordati con affetto da Simone Signoret, un nome, anzi, un cognome ritorna in più occasioni: Capobianco.



Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be” is the autobiography written in 1976 by ​​the actress Simone Signoret (1921–1985), who retraced her life and artistic career with lively intelligence. Above all,  her passion for her husband Yves Montand, but more than her personal story, she captured many key moments in the history of the twentieth century: the years between the two World Wars, France occupation by the German army, the political divisions that marked the Second World War, the experience lived by Simone and her husband behind the Iron Curtain in the '50s... 

Almost forty years after the publication, the stories are still vivid and we rediscover great artists of the twentieth century, such as Picasso, Giacometti, Prévert, Arthur Miller, Sartre or film directors such as Luis Buñuel and Max Ophüls, colleagues and friends, including Serge Reggiani, Charles Trenet and Marilyn Monroe, seen from a personal point of view. 

Among the people fondly remembered by Simone Signoret, a name is repeated in two special circumstances: Capobianco


SIMONE SIGNORET & CAPOBIANCO

PART 2

PART 3

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

1969 | RANCIR | PARABIAGO, MILAN

1969 | Rancir by Giorgio Rancilio
Parabiago, Milan
Source: Moda in Pelle magazine

1969 | TEENS | A Rancir division by Giorgio Rancilio
Parabiago, Milan


RANCIR
PARABIAGO, MILAN
I N D E X