1971 | RANCIR | PARABIAGO, MILAN

1971 | RANCIR

Parabiago, Milan

Source: Mode in Pelle magazine

1971 | RANCIR | detail

Parabiago, Milan

Source: Mode in Pelle magazine

1971 | RANCIR

Parabiago, Milan

Source: Mode in Pelle magazine

1971 | RANCIR

Yellow & Green Kid

1971 | RANCIR | Drawing by Mario Locati

Parabiago, Milan

Source: Foto Shoe magazine

RANCIR
PARABIAGO, MILAN
I N D E X

1961 - 1962 | VIBELSPORT (NERVIANO, MILAN)

1961 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

The above model showcased at the 38th Milan Fair and part of the Guanto (Glove) line.

1961 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Calzature Italiane di Lusso

1961 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

1961 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

1961 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Calzature Italiane di Lusso

1962 | Vibelsport

Nerviano, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

1955-1963 | VIBELSPORT
THE GUANTO [GLOVE] SHOES


THE PROJECT
SS33
[Footwear In Parabiago, Milan]

1945 - 2015 - ITALIAN LIBERATION DAY | 70TH ANNIVERSARY

SOURCE

A.N.P.I.

Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia | National Association of Italian Partisans

1962 | MARIO VALENTINO FOR CENTINARO AND SARLI | ROME HAUTE COUTURE

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1962 | Mario Valentino | Naples

For Centinaro and Sarli

Source: Ars Sutoria

1971 | LAGERFELD FOR MARIO VALENTINO
12 (Or maybe 13) centimeters heel

U P D A T E S

1961 | Fratelli PORTA

Valenza (Alessandria)

Source: Calzature Italiane di Lusso

1950 | ANDRE PERUGIA ON THE BALL
TALON A BOULES

1881 - 1885 | VINCENT VAN GOGH
OF CABBAGES AND CLOGS [AND POTTERY]

1885 - 1889 | VINCENT VAN GOGH
BOOTS & CLOGS | WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MAGRITTE AND PICASSO

MID TO LATE 19TH CENTURY | EDOUARD MANET
DRAWINGS

1957 | OXFORD WHITE BUCKS (AN AMERICAN CLASSIC)
FEAT. LEROI JONES & THE KID IN WHITE BUCK SHOES

CALZATURIFICIO DI VARESE
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

CALZATURIFICIO BORRI
MARKETING IN THE 30'S
WE'RE DOING IT FOR THE KIDS

CALZATURIFICIO BORRI
MARKETING IN THE 70'S
WASHABLE JEANS-LIKE LEATHER DESERT BOOT

SERENDIPITY
MIRROR-LIKE SHOES

2004 - 2014 | THE METAL CHAIN HEEL BY CHARLES JOURDAN
TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY

1961 | Fratelli PORTA

Valenza (Alessandria)

Source: Calzature Italiane di Lusso

1961 | Fratelli PORTA

Valenza (Alessandria)

Source: Calzature Italiane di Lusso

1880 | OLIVER HERFORD | IN THE TOE OF THAT OLD SHOE

1880 | Oliver Herford

In The Toe Of That Old Shoe (Pen and ink)

Source: Cabinet of American Illustration (Library of Congress)

SHOES AND ART
1832 - 2009

70'S | PRO-KEDS: YOU CAN SCORE TOO

"Short stories that are the best I’ve ever seen about Times Square. I couldn't put it down. I recommended [Friedman] for a Pulitzer Prize." 

Show Business magazine about "Tales Of Time Square" by Josh Alan Friedman

Author/journalist/editor/musician Josh Alan Friedman never got the Pulitzer but his book stands as a very entertaining piece of history. Here's a different view of the still popular Pro-Keds sneakers.

Keds

Spurce: Sneaker Tube TV

The drug-pitch skells would rather tear off with a wallet than transact an actual exchange, and they make the teenage chicken fags seem like the most discreet commodity on the street. Fifteen ghetto guerrillas wearing Pro-Keds (what transit cops call “felony sneakers”) swoop down on a victim, then scatter back into subway oblivion.

Josh Alan Friedman

[From: Tales Of Time Square, Delacorte Press, 1986/Feral House, 2007)

1968 | Pro-Keds. If you're really serious

Whatever you are doing

Source: Vintage Ad Broser

Other kids may wash windshields on 42nd Street, but these are minstrels. Street urchins without parental guidance. They have no ghetto blasters, no rap or funk tracks to dance to, which makes them an a cappella dance troupe. All of them wear slum-certified Keds sneakers, and know how to walk on the insides of their ankles, an old comedian’s trick that is their most advanced move.

Josh Alan Friedman

[From: Tales Of Time Square, Delacorte Press, 1986/Feral House, 2007)

Converse All Star Chuck Taylor V/S Keds
[Feat. The Ramones]

1954 | Pro-Keds | Detail

Source: My Archives For My Work

IN MEMORIAM | EDUARDO GALEANO [1940 - 2015]

May 2013 | Eduardo Galeano

while interviewed for the last time by the newspaper La Nacion

Photograph by Daniel Pessah

Source: La Nacion

THE SHOE

In 1919 Rosa Luxemburg, the revolutionary, was murdered in Berlin.

Her killers bludgeoned her with rifle blows and tossed her into the waters of a canal.

Along the way, she lost a shoe.

Some hand picked it up, that shoe dropped in the mud.

Rosa longed for a world where justice would not be sacrificed in the name of freedom, nor freedom sacrificed in the name of justice.

Every day, some hand picks up that banner.

Dropped in the mud, like the shoe.

EDUARDO GALEANO

From: Children Of The Days. A Calendar Of Human History.

[Siglo XXI Editores, 2012/Nation Books, 2013]

August 18, 2008 | Eduardo Galeano

Interviewed by La Nacion at El Brasilero bar, Montevideo

Photograph: Archivo La Nacion/Federico Guastavino

Source: La Nacion

19TH CENTURY | GAETANO BIANCHI | SHOEMAKER IN MILAN

"Stivaletti femminili 1880-1900 ca. Manifattura Milanese

Civiche Raccolte, inv. 747 C. Acquisto Compagnia di San Vincenzo

Etichetta: “Bianchi Gaetano/ (…) Milano”

Stivaletti con tomaia in raso di seta bianco avorio. Allacciatura laterale con stringhe di seta in tinta. Punta quadrata. Tacco a rocchetto rivestito di seta. Fodera di cotone cerato. Suola in cuoio."

[Didascalia a: Costume Moda Immagine Palazzo Morando]

"Woman's ankle boots ca. 1880-1900. Milan Manufacture. 

Civic collection. Inv. 747 C. 

Purchase Compagnia di San Vincenzo". Label: "Bianchi Gaetano/(...) Milano"

Ankle boots with ivory satin uppers. Side lacing with matching silk laces. Square toe. Silk covered spool heels. Lined with waxed cotton. Leather heel." 

[Caption from Costume Moda Immagine Palazzo Morando]

Ca. 1880 - 1900 | Gaetano Bianchi | Milan

Woman's ankle boots | Costume Moda Immagine Palazzo Morando | Milan

Photo Irma Vivaldi

La datazione del museo è da anticipare. Nel 1882 Gaetano Bianchi era già morto e il testimone dello storico laboratorio calzaturiero milanese, situato nell'ora scomparsa "Via Tre Alberghi", era già passato al figlio Luigi, come testimonia questa pubblicità pubblicata nel 1882 su "L'Italia Elegante".

The museum date needs to be pushed backward. In 1882 Gaetano Bianchi was already dead and the historical milanese footwear workshop, located in the now disappeared "Via Tre Alberghi", was by then owned by his son Luigi, as illustrated by this advertising published in 1882 on "L'Italia Elegante".

1882 | Luigi Bianchi Fu Gaetano

Milan |  Via Tre Alberghi

"The latest models for soireées and dances"

Inoltre Alessandro Gianetti nel primo volume dedicato al periodo 1825-1838 della sua opera "Trentaquattro anni di cronistoria milanese", ricordava come una vera e propria ossessione modaiola femminile del tempo che 

"un bel piede per la danza non sarebbe scorso leggiero, se non calzato dalle scarpe a lungo sospirate dal Bianchi, dal Beltrami o dal Ronchetti".

Also worth of note is Alessandro Gianetti's quote from the first volume (1825-1838) of his "Thirty four years of Milanese history (1825-1859)": he remembered as a true female fashion obsession that:

"a nice foot would not have been suited for dance if not worn with long sighed shoes  by Bianchi, Beltrami or Ronchetti"

FOOTNOTES

1) Alessandro Gianetti "Trentaquattro anni di cronistoria milanese" (1825-1859)" , Vol. 1 (1825-1838) | Milano, | Ed. L. F. Cogliati, 1903

2) "Conto del calzolaio Bianchi, in lire cin...cin... quecento settantasei... Una bagattella!" afferma lo sconsolato Demetrio scoprendo questo ennesimo debito lasciato a lui da saldare dal fratello appena morto. Citazione dal romanzo Demetrio Pianelli di Emilio De Marchi (pubblicato inizialmente a puntate tra il 1888 e il 1889 sul quotidiano milanese "L’Italia").

"Bill from shoemaker Bianchi f-f-five hundred liras.. A trifle!" says a downcast Demetrio discovering this umpteenth debt left to him to be paid by his brother who just died. It's a quote from the novel Demetrio Pianelli  by Emilio De Marchi (initially published as a serial novel between 1888 and 1889 in the Milanese newspaper "L'Italia").

1850 ca. | Luigi Riccardi

Milan | The Church San Giovanni in Laterano in Via Tre Alberghi

Source: Lombardia Beni Culturali

La Via Tre Alberghi fu eliminata con tutto il quartiere Bottonuto nel piano urbanistico degli anni Trenta. Sorgeva nell'area centralissima dove ora c'è Piazza A.Diaz.

The street "Tre Alberghi" was torn down with all the Bottonuto area of Milan as part of the new urban plan of the Thirties. It was in the central area (now Piazza A.Diaz), right behind the Duomo.

Milan | Via Tre Alberghi: the way it was.

Source: Milan l'era inscì

FOOTWEAR & AUTARCHY | MADE IN ITALY BY LAW

1937 | Milan

Italian Goods Only | Detail 

1936 - 1942 'THE' SANDAL
FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS

1939 | FOOTWEAR & AUTARCHY
THE BEGINNING

1939 | FISH MOUTH? NO, FISH SHOES
IN THE LITERAL SENSE

1940 - 1942 | THE AUTARCHIC WAY OF SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
PART 1/3 | PART 2/3 | PART 3/3

1937 | Milan

Italian Goods Only

Source: De Agostini Picture Library licensed to Alinari Brothers

Looks like Happy Days: a smiling face for a fascist regime.

1940 | FOOTWEAR & AUTARCHY | THE AUTARCHIC WAY OF SALVATORE FERRAGAMO | PART 1/3

Nel 1940, a inizio guerra, la rivista tecnica Novus presentò alcune soluzioni utilizzate da Salvatore Ferragamo per ovviare alla carenza di materiali nella produzione di calzature eleganti. L'articolo era scritto in italiano e tedesco, in conformità alle alleanze belliche.

1940: at the beginning of the Second World War, the technical magazine Novus showcased solutions used by Salvatore Ferragamo to overcome the lack of materials in the production of elegant shoes. The article was bilingual (Italian and German) according to the military alliances.

1940 | Salvatore Ferragamo
Laced-up shoe made in fish leather tanned by Genepesca

1940 | Salvatore Ferragamo

Leather boots with sole in armed felt

FOOTWEAR & AUTARCHY
THE AUTARCHIC WAY OF SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
PART 1/3 | PART 2/3 | PART 3/3

MADE IN ITALY
BY LAW

1940 | Salvatore Ferragamo

The most famous wedge heel by Ferragamo in a mule made with cuttings of hemp.

1948 - 1952 | ANDRE PERUGIA FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR | EPILOGUE

Most probably we just scratched the surface about the liaison between André Perugia and Christian Dior, still we couldn't rely on both web and books ("Dior: the Man who Made the World Look New" - 1996 - being a perfect example). There's nothing out there and yet so many things are hidden somewhere. We need time, you know, pairing things up aint' that easy.

1948 | André Perugia for Christian Dior

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1947 | André Perugia

© Romans, Musée international de la Chaussure

© Direction des Musées de France, 2004

ANDRE PERUGIA FOR DIOR

1948 - 1952 | INTRO

1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT
PART 1 | PART 2

1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS]

1948 - 1952 | ENDTRO


ANDRE PERUGIA
D O S S I E R

1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS] | ANDRE PERUGIA FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR

"Dior has a lovely Perugia pump in suede or kid with an almost imperceptible string-like bow of the leather at the front. In satin, with a slightly wider bow, it is lovely for dressier occasions – very young and distinguished."  

[The Milwaukee Sentinel - Sept, 1 1950]

1952 | Pumps, slingback, open toe shoes by André Perugia for Christian Dior

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

“Perugia’s Beau à la Mode, an all occasion shoe, which caused a sensation in Paris when Dior models wore them with everything from afternoon frocks to party outfits, are already being copied in suede and a new type of mesh (…) Made with soft toes and draped grosgrain bows across the vamp, these shoes may be had with high or medium heels.” 

[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Nov 8, 1951]

1952 | Three models by Christian Dior

In crepe “Soprano”. Natural silk by Coudurier, Fructus, Descher

Pumps, slingback, open toe shoes by André Perugia for Christian Dior

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1950 | André Perugia shoes with little bows | detail
Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1950 | Christian Dior | Black transparent tulle on white silk with bands of white lace

André Perugia shoes with little bows

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1950 | André Perugia shoes with little bows | detail

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1950 | Christian Dior | Dress in white silk, with drapes in leopard fur

André Perugia shoes with little bows

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1951 | Christian Dior gown | Worn by top model Alla Ichnun

Shoes with silk bows by André Perugia

Source: Pinterest

1952 | Christian Dior dress

Wide neckline, slightly ruched bodice, maintained by a corselet.

Source L'Officiel de la Mode

1952 | Christian Dior dress

Strapless gown with asimmetrical skirt, in printed silk

Source Pinterest

ANDRE PERUGIA FOR DIOR

1948 - 1952 | INTRO

1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT
PART 1 | PART 2

1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS]

1948 - 1952 | EPILOGUE


ANDRE PERUGIA
D O S S I E R

1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT | ANDRE' PERUGIA FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR | PART 2

1951 | March, 5 | LIFE magazine

Christian Dior dress from the spring/summer collection | The model is Sylvie Hirsch

Source: LIFE magazine

"The dress on this week’s cover is one of the prints that made spring news in Paris. A Dior design, which will be imported by Henry Bendel, it has a pleated skirt, worn over a stiff petticoat, and a matching print stole. Wearing the dress is one of the top models in Paris, 23-years-old Sylvie Hirsch, of Dior’s. To halt the growing practice of importing Americans for fashion photographs, Sylvie and the Dior girls adopted a Machiavelian tactic. They went on a semi-starvation diet, got their waists so slim that only one of the American girls who came over for the openings could be squeezed into the clothes which had been fitted to the French models." 

[Life March 5, 1951]

Matching the printed dress on the cover was a sandal created by André Perugia. In black or white, this sandal accompanied the entire Dior spring/summer 1951 collection. As always, the model was later licensed to I.Miller for overseas production.

1951 | LIFE magazine cover detail

André Perugia sandal

Source: LIFE magazine

1951 | André Perugia for Dior

Source: URIC magazine # 89

1951 | Christian Dior

Evening sandals and shoe by André Perugia

Source: LIFE Magazine | Photo by Gordon Parks

1951 | mr. Christian Dior and Sylvie Hirsch

Evening dress

Sandals by André Perugia

Source: Hprints

1951 | Christian Dior | Dress with rich embroidery

Shoes by André Perugia

The mannequin is Alla Ichnun.

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

1951 | Christian Dior

Shoes by André Perugia

Model Alla Ichnun

1951 | Dresses by Christian Dior

Shoes by André Perugia

1951 | Dresses by Christian Dior

Shoes by André Perugia

1951 | Outfit by Christian Dior | Printed gauze from the Aleutian Islands by Staron

Shoes by André Perugia

Source: L'Officiel de la Mode

ANDRE PERUGIA FOR DIOR

1948 - 1952 | INTRO

1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT
PART 1 | PART 2

1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS]

1948 - 1952 | EPILOGUE


ANDRE PERUGIA
D O S S I E R