Fiamma Ferragamo believes, as do many designers, that heels are becoming increasingly important each season. But the Ferragamo heels aren't treading the same road as most."I think that the very heavy chunky look is terrible" she said, using her multi-ringed fingers to express her displeasure. "Extremes are never elegant. When you exceed a certain limit, things begin to get ugly"
Enid Nemy | New York TimesOctober 10, 1968
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The New York Times | October 10, 1968
Ferragamo | All made to order through Saks Fifth Avenue
Source: The New York Times
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In the picture below - taken from a Ferragamo sketchbook at the the online database Archivi della Moda del Novecento (20th Century Fashion Archive) - the four heels can be identified with both progressive numbers and names: GEO, CURL, CASSIDA and GOCCIA (drop). They all have their own entry with pictures of the wooden prototypes taken from the Italian patents.
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1964-1968 Ferragamo Sketchbook #4 | p. 568
© Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A.
Source: Archivi della Moda del Novecento
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First in line is the GEO; it comes in two slightly different versions (triangular or ogive heel cross section) both patented by IVO BARBARESI and assigned to the company Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A. As a matter of fact, all the sculptured heels were patented by Barbaresi.
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GEO
Filed December 31, 1968 - Granted March 3, 1970
Ivo Barbaresi for Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A.
Source: Google Patents
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1968 | The model Miuny with GEO heel
Burgundy peau de sole and pink satin
© Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A.
Source: Archivi della Moda del Novecento
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October 1969 | The GEO heel & arch assembly
Wooden prototype
Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)
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HEEL #2: CURL
The second model, the CURL, was erroneously considered part of the 1967 Neiman Marcus awarded collection (SCARPE! by Ilaria Daniela and Rosa Chiesa, Rizzoli 2010 - page 96). Like the GEO, its first patent was granted in Italy (August 22, 1968), then France (October 17, 1969) and finally U.S.A. (December 29, 1970 but it was filed December 27, 1968!).
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CURL
Filed December 27, 1968 - Granted DECEMBER 29, 1970
Ivo Barbaresi for Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A.
Source: Google Patents
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1968 | Slingback with CURL heel
Silver kid
Source: Shoe Icons Museum
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October 1969 | The CURL heel & arch assembly
Wooden prototype
Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)
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HEEL #3: CASSIDA
We already wrote about the fabled CASSIDA, no need to reiterate. It was the one heel who made us start this whole research about clashing dates.
We already wrote about the fabled CASSIDA, no need to reiterate. It was the one heel who made us start this whole research about clashing dates.
The paper clipping below is stored at Archivi della Moda del Novecento and bear a wrong date (1967). We can say it because the article is basically the same report as the one from the New York Times (retrieved from the NY Times website) complete with heel descriptions, prices and the tagline "exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue".
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Source: Archivi della Moda del Novecento
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Last in line, the GOCCIA heel. Same dates as the others (only the French patent was granted a month later) but unfortunately we were not able to found a single shoe with such a heel. Maybe at Ferragamo …
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GOCCIA
Filed December 12, 1969 - Granted March 3, 1970
Ivo Barbaresi for Salvatore Ferragamo S.P.A.
Source: Google Patents
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November 1969 | The GOCCIA heel & arch assembly
Wooden prototype
Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)
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As a side note, the GOCCIA heel patent under OTHER REFERENCES says: "LIFE magazine, April 1939 p. 54 shoe shown in eight frame". This one.
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April 1939 | LIFE magazine | detail
Source: LIFE magazine
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It is, she said (Fiamma Ferragamo), a sculptured wedge. It's just that it goes a little further. It is a sculptured, scooped-out wedge; and through a doughnut-shaped hole slides a strap that fastens across the instep.
Enid Nemy | New York TimesOctober 10, 1968
So, we do have here a beautiful, unique collection of heels and we just know - by accident - that the author is IVO BARBARESI. But who is Ivo Barbaresi? Not much on the web but enough to fill the blanks.
Ivo Barbaresi was born in Jesi (Ancona) in 1915 and died in Florence in 1996. He was a sculptor and a painter, studied at Florence's Fine Arts Academy and spent much of his life in the city. Ivo Barbaresi learned the art of marquetry from his brother Vito.
He lived for awhile in London and it appears that his "The Circumcision of Christ" (a Mantegna copy, 1953) is still owned by a British art gallery. His statue "Elettrice Palatina" (1945) can be seen at Palazzo Pitti since February 2013 donated by Mrs. Fiorenza Bartolotti who got it from the author.
His studio in Piazza Donatello was destroyed by the flood in Florence (1966) and remains unclear how he got the opportunity to work on the set of sculptured heels for Ferragamo.
1967 | FIAMMA FERRAGAMO
1947 | SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
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Ivo Barbaresi
Source: Jesi Scultori
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Elettrice Palatina by Ivo Barbaresi
Palazzo Pitti, Florence
Photograph: Irma Vivaldi
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FOOTNOTES
Besides the LIFE picture, the references cited in the Barbaresi's patents deserve to be seen as they help understand where the inspiration came from.
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1940 | William H. Nutt
Source: Google Patents
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1962 | Edgar E. Joiner
Source: Google Patents
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