TheHistorialist: 1956 | THE DISAPPEARING PUMP | ANDRE PERUGIA

Disappearing Pump

The shoe which has had the greatest influence is Perugia/Givenchy's "disappearing pump" introduced in Paris and shown in this column early this year. It makes the foot look slim and graceful, and this Fall finds versions of its straight-across throat line in all top shoe collections. Some call it""vanishing vamp", because the throat line vanishes into deeply cleft sides which make even the rest of the shoe invisible when seen head on.

Berta Mohr

Herald Statesman, Yonkers, NY | September 7, 1955

1956 S/S | Dress by Carven - Printed silk by Tacosa

Shoes by André Perugia

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

The "disappearing" pump was born a year before from the collaboration between the twenty-eight Hubert de Givenchy and sixty three André Perugia. It had been made possible by new construction techniques developed by the footwear makers in Lombardy, Italy with their ultra flexible and gloves-like shoes. The disappearing/vanishing pump was the perfect complement to the elegant dresses of the 1956 Spring/Summer Paris collections.

Le scarpe "a scomparsa" erano nate un anno prima dalla collaborazione fra il ventottenne Hubert de Givenchy e l'ultrasessantenne André Perugia ed erano state rese possibili dalle nuove tecniche costruttive sviluppate dai calzaturieri lombardi e dalle loro scarpe ultra flessibili ed avvolgenti.

Nel 1956 questo tipo di calzature fu il complemento ideale per l'abbigliamento più elegante delle collezioni parigine.