1957 | THE HAREM SANDAL AND THE HALTER PUMP BY BETH & HERBERT LEVINE

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The Harem Sandal (top) and the Halter Pump

Source: The Times | October 13, 1957

NEW HERBERT LEVINE SATINS … DIVERSE AND EXCITING!

Devastating, dramatic white satin evening slippers (dyeable of course); new pace setters in the social scene, with the after-dark eloquence for which Herbert Levine is so famous.

The Harem Sandal, it’s rhinestone delineated T-strap an upturned continuation of the sole. 32.95

The Halter Pump, its entire pointed toe a myriad of rhinestones. 34.95

Source: The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana)

October 13, 1957

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The Harem Sandal

Source: Beth Levine Shoes (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2009)

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The Harem Sandal

THE HAREM SANDAL: IS THAT THE ACTUAL NAME?

We don’t know; this is a rare case of too many sources (that’s why it’s rare) saying different things. An older ad (April 1957) calls it “T-scroll” and explains that the strap can be worn over or under the vamp; the thumbnail drawing by Ruthie Ballin (Beth’s sister) on the shoe box says “T-Square” (this must be it); Helene Verin in her book calls it “T-Flap”, and finally, the well known Saul Steinberg ad doesn’t calls it at all but makes clear we’re talking about the “Harum-scarum silhouette”.

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

TOP LEFT: T-scroll (Clarion Ledger | April 17, 1957)

TOP RIGHT: Ruthie Ballin thumbnail drawing

BELOW: Saul Steinberg ad (detail)

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The Halter Pump

Source: Etsy

Besides being delightful, not much can be said about the Halter Pump; we’re still looking for additional information regarding the rhinestone work. Could it be Arpad’s like the Sea Mist or the 3,000 rhinestones pump?

BETH & HERBERT LEVINE

I N D E X

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The Halter Pump

1958 | THE TOPLESS SHOE DEFIES THE EYE | NO SHOE BY BETH & HERBERT LEVINE

1958 | Beth & Herbert Levine | No Shoe | detail

Photograph: Milton H. Greene

Source: LIFE magazine | February 17, 1958

1957 started with a bang for Beth & Herbert Levine with LIFE magazine featuring a full page to the merit of their Cyrano last and a year later the same weekly showcased their NO SHOE calling it “topless shoe”:

TOPLESS SHOES designed by Herbert Levine are attached to soles by two adhesive tapes which are sold with the shoes. The shoes are made in several different heel heights, including flats. This pair in red satin costs $30. 

… of the stocking and shoe fashions that have come on the heels of the skirt news, the most revolutionary is a shoe that is only a sole and why a lady can stay in it defies the eye. 

Actually the shoe is held on by tapes, sticky on both sides, which keep it firmly in place until peeled off. 

LIFE magazine

February 17, 1958

1958 | Attention On Legs

Beth & Herbert Levine - No Shoe (left) | David Evins 

Photograph: Milton H. Greene

Source: LIFE magazine | February 17, 1958

As a matter of fact, the shoes were sold with a small bottle of liquid adhesive to be brushed over the surgical pads in order to keep on the No Shoe: probably too experimental to win over the average customer, but the final effect was stunning and nothing short of a miracle.

According to Helene Verin - author of “Beth Levine Shoes” - the only known surviving bottle of adhesive is part of Waalwijck’s Dutch Leather & Shoe Museum collection.

1958 | Beth & Herbert Levine

Adhesive bottle and No Shoe at the Dutch Leather & Shoe Museum

Source: Bellevue Arts

1958 | Beth & Herbert Levine

No Shoe, surgical pads and insole labels

Source: Dutch Leather & Shoe Museum

Less than glamorous is the only “No Shoe” advertisements we could find: the focus is on the splendid “Anemone” - here called “Pink-a-dink-a-do” - and the “No Shoe”, while called “revolutionary” for good reasons, is kept on the side with a dull drawing that doesn’t really explain, like they were forced to include it, but didn’t want to.

1958 | The most revolutionary shoe of the season

Beth & Herbert Levine | "Anemone" (left) and No Shoe (far right)

Source: Corpus Christi Caller Times | March 2, 1958

FOOTNOTE

The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns a prototype of the No Shoe which was a gift of Beth Levine to the Brooklyn Museum: it is dated 1955-1960, while the book “Beth Levine Shoes” dated it 1957.

BETH & HERBERT LEVINE
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1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

No Shoe prototype | Gift of Beth Levine

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art (dated 1955-60)

It's empty, isn't it?

1958 | No Shoe Adhesive

Source: Dutch Leather & Shoe Museum

1957 | SHARPENED SHOES | THE CYRANO LAST BY BETH & HERBERT LEVINE

1957 | Before & after | The Cyrano last (left)

Source: LIFE magazine | January 21, 1957

A NEW POINTED-TOE PUMP LOOKS ODD BUT FEELS GREAT

Although it seems to have been conjured up from a chiropodist’s nightmare, this startling new mum is simply the logical culmination of a trend in shoe styles. The toe, which has been steadily narrowing, now ends in the sharpest possible point. 

Unlike constricting pointed shoes of 40 years ago, these are as long on confort as they are on looks. A special last allows for width at the ball of the foot, puts the point past the wearer’s toes (right).

Somewhat longer than an ordinary shoe of the same size, the new pointed-toe pump makes both the foot and the ankle look slimmer.

LIFE magazine

January 21, 1957

1957 | Sharpened Shoes

Beth & Herbert Levine in LIFE magazine

Source: LIFE magazine | January 21, 1957

A full page spread on LIFE magazine is an opportunity not to be missed, so the retailers were quick to capitalise on it:

We’ve been telling you the fashion importance of our Herbert Levine pointed toe pumps … now LIFE tells the facts behind our sharpened shoes. 

Joseph Salon Shoes advertisement

Source: Los Angeles Times | February 6, 1957

A successful example of the Cyrano last is the model “Anemone”, other noteworthy are “Madame Bowary” and “Black Rose”, both here below.

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

At Joseph Salon Shoes | Beverly Hills

Source: Los Angeles Times | February 6, 1957

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The model “Madame Bovary” center stage

Source: The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana) | September 8, 1957

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine | The Cyrano Last

The model “Madame Bovary”

Source: Goldstein Museum of Design (dated 1955 - 1965)

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The model “Black Rose”

Source: Star Tribune (Minneapolis) | November 17,1957

1957 | Beth & Herbert Levine | The Cyrano Last

The model “Black Rose”

Source: 1stdibs

BETH & HERBERT LEVINE
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1959 | Uncredited Beth & Herbert Levine's "Madame Bowary"

Photograph: Ben Somoroff

Source: Esquire magazine | January 1959

COLUM MCCANN: I HATE THE WORD ‘SLIPPER’

Pere Ubu

The Fabulous Sequel (Have Shoes Will Walk) | 7" EP Chrysalis, 1979

Source: Discogs

… opens the shopping bag, sets the shoes out on his work desk, just finishing touches - a shank to be trimmed, a wing block to be extended, a drawstring that requires threading through, a heel to be cut down - neat, precise, and when he is finished he wraps them each in plastic, making sure there are no creases in the wrapping, since he has a reputation to maintain, the ballerinas, the choreographers, the opera houses … 

CA. 1882 | Edgar Degas

Danseuse espagnole et études de jambes | Spanish dancer and studies of legs

Source: Ministère de la Culture

… they all seek him out, sending their specifications, a foot so wide at the toes and so narrow at the heel he must stretch the shoe to accommodate it, the fourth toe abnormally longer than the third, something he solves with the simple loosening of a stitch, the shoe that needs a harder shank, a higher back, a softer sole, he is well-known for his tricks, they talk about him, the dancers with their difficulties or those just simply fussy, writing him letters, sending him telegrams, sometimes even visiting him at the factory - meet your maker! - especially those from the Royal Ballet, so delicate and fine and appreciative …

1943 | Shoe Rationing

Photograph: Walter Sanders

Source: Google Arts & Culture

… then takes the stack of shoes from the shelf and sets once again to work, and he works all morning long, although Saturdays aren’t considered overtime, he doesn’t care, he enjoys the repetitions and differing demands, the women’s toe shoes so much more intricate and difficult than the ballet boots for men, the French with more of an eye for flair than the English, the softer leather pads demanded by the Spanish, the Americans who call their shoes slippers, and how he detests that word, slipper, like something out of a fairy tale …

Colum McCann

From “Dancer” (Picador, 2004)

SHOES & BOOKS

[FEAT. HEMINGWAY, SHAKESPEARE, SARAMAGO, RANKIN, GALEANO ...]

Andy Warhol

Ballet Slippers

1956 | THE MODEL MADONNA WAS MADE FOR A QUEEN SAYS SALVATORE FERRAGAMO

1958 | Brisbane, Australia | Made for a Queen

Salvatore Ferragamo and guests

Source: Courier Mail, Brisbane/SAN | September 27, 1958

Soraya that is, former queen of Persia that she never managed to wear her Ferragamos. Or so the caption says. The model is called “Madonna” and promotional photographs showed Ferragamo with actresses dressed as nuns.

The above picture from Brisbane’s Courier Mail is dated September 27, 1958; three days earlier the Australian Women’s Weekly portrayed Salvatore Ferragamo with a full color page and four models on display, the “Madonna” was one of them:

“MADONNA” is the name Ferragamo gives to the embroidered sandal he designed for Princess Soraya. “She has the feet of a madonna” he said. The Princess takes a 6B (4) fitting.

Most probably the model actual date is 1956 as seen in “Le Vostre Novelle” magazine (March 1956) but, as customary with Ferragamo, a model was new this year in Italy, also new the following year in the U.S.A. and brand new the year after that in Australia. 

1958 | Salvatore Ferragamo | The model "Madonna"

Source: The Australian Women's Weekly | September 24, 1958

AND THEN MARKETING KICKS IN…

The SAN (Sistema Archivistico Nazionale - National Fashion Archive) which get the information from the Salvatore Ferragamo SPA and/or Salvatore Ferragamo Museum says:

“The original model was made for Sofia Loren. It is one of the most famous Ferragamo creations, also made for other customers. It’s called “Madonna” and the name was taken from a prototype stored in the (Ferragamo) archive. The shoe is part of the Mantero donation to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.” (SAN - retrieved May 2018) 

A twin entry in the SAN DB also shoes a picture of the “Madonna” replica renamed “Sofia Sandal” (Fall/Winter 2009/2010).

So, who do you want to believe? Salvatore Ferragamo or Salvatore Ferragamo SPA?

1956 | Salvatore Ferragamo | The model "Madonna"

Black & White Tavarnelle lace upper

Source: Shoes Or No Shoes

Silliness aside, the “Madonna” is part of the Shoes Or No Shoes collection (both versions! - above) and Nazim Mustafaev’s Shoe Icons as well (below); another one, in a less good condition, belongs to the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University. A "Madonna" model has been spotted online going for € 700 (June 2018).

1956 | Salvatore Ferragamo | The model "Madonna"

Black Tavarnelle lace

Source: Shoe Icons

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
I N D E X


FOOTNOTE

Salvatore Ferragamo and Sofia Loren (hidden)

Close but not the Real McCoy (besides not being a sandal)

Source: your name here

Salvatore Ferragamo and Sofia Loren

Same session, different take of the above photograph

Source: Comune di Bonito (Ferragamo’s birthplace)

1956 | Salvatore Ferragamo

The model "Madonna" | detail

Source: Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University

According to SAN/Salvatore Ferragamo Museum a drawing of the Madonna model is to be found from a Ferragamo sketchbook dated 1955.

1952 | THE GLOVED ARCH BY SALVATORE FERRAGAMO [AKA FERRAGAMO V/S LEVINE]

Look at the “gloved arch”. It’s a spool-heeled masterpiece that hugs the curve of the foot in suede, soles only where it touches the ground; it gloves everything but the short front sole in one unbroken sweep of texture and colour. Ferragamo’s newest device toward a more delicate shoe, toward a softer tread. 

Salvatore Ferragamo at Farmer’s advertisement

The Sunday Herald | March 29, 1953

1953 | Salvatore Ferragamo at Farmer’s 

The “Gloved Arch”

Source: The Sunday Herald | March 29, 1953

"The gloved arches give more support and the covered toes give more protection, yet, because of the lightweight leathers, these 'closed up' shoes are as easy on the foot as a sandal." 

Salvatore Ferragamo

Union-Sun & Journal | Lockport, NY January 21, 1957

HAS FERRAGAMO CREATED THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL SHOE?

No, we don’t think so, and it is debatable whether the "gloved arches give more support" or not; however it was a clever idea and never seen before. It was patented between April 3 and July 22, 1952 in Italy, France, U.K. and U.S.A.; the British were the last to grant the patent (October 26, 1955), followed by the French (March 16, 1954).

The magazine cover seen on the lower bottom of the Sunday Herald ad is Vogue UK and the full page shows the photograph here below. 

1952 | Salvatore Ferragamo | The “Gloved Arch”

Photograph: Herbert Matter

Source: Vogue UK - October 1952

1952 | Salvatore Ferragamo | The Gloved Arch 

U.S. Patent drawing | Filed July 22, 1952 | Granted July 14, 1953

Source: Google Patents

According to the invention a shoe is provided having a heel, an upper the side portions of which are extended in the form of flaps which meet underneath the shank of the shoe and an outer sole which terminates short of the heel, wherein the said flaps are extended rearwardly so as to cover the upper portion of the front of the heel.

From the U.K. patent specification

Filed May 20, 1952 | Granted October 26, 1955 

1952 | Salvatore Ferragamo

The Gloved Arch and its Italian patent

Source: SAN/Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

We may be wrong, but shoes with the Gloved Arch can't be found anywhere but the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
I N D E X



FOOTNOTE

1956 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The model Under Construction

Source: “Beth Levine Shoes” (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2009)

(The model) Under Construction was revolutionary on that it has only a half-sole under the ball of the foot, and the underside of the arch is embellished leather so the shoe will “fit like a glove”.

From: “Beth Levine Shoes” (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2009)

1956 | Beth Levine

Patent paperwork filed April 10, 1956 | Granted January 1, 1957

Source: Google Patents

As much as we like Beth Levine, “Under Construction” wasn’t revolutionary - not even in the first place - smart, but not revolutionary. The book also says 1955 even though the American patent was filed April 10, 1956.

It’s only a guess, but we don’t think Beth Levine knew of the Ferragamo model, nor the “fit like a glove” coming from her, but still, the similarity is striking. Levine’s looks nicer though.

BETH & HERBERT LEVINE
I N D E X

1956 | Beth & Herbert Levine

The model "Under Construction"

Source: “The Seductive Shoe” by Jonathan Walford (Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2007)

IN MEMORIAM | ANTHONY BOURDAIN (JUNE 25, 1956 - JUNE 8, 2018)

When referring to themselves collectively, my Mexican carnales like La Raza or La M (pronounced la emaayy), or La Mafia. Externs from culinary school, working for free as a 'learning experience' - which by itself translates to 'lots of work and no money' - are quickly tagged as FNG (Fucking New Guy), or Mel for mal carne (bad meat). Army, short for 'army cook', or the classic but elegant shoe, short for 'shoemaker', are the perennial insults for a lousy or 'slophouse' cook.

Anthony Bourdain

From: Kitchen Confidential (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000)

Cro-Mags’ Harley Flanagan & Anthony Bourdain

Source: NewYorkNatives/YouTube (A Must-See video)

Understand this: I always hated those articles, like the ones in Vanity Fair, featuring the Lifestyles of the Rich and Despotic, where some chicken-brained Hilton kiddie, shrivelled Sukarno relative, or Scientologist movie star lets us into their swanky digs to show off their collection of expensive motorcars and Tiberius-inspired plumbing. I don't know why they really publish this stuff. 

Do the writers actually admire these no-accounts and wish us to emulate their wastrel behaviour if we can? Or are the writers, in fact, hard-core Maoist provocateurs, hoping secretly to rouse us ordinary schlubs to a murderous rage with these glimpses into the profligate spending of capitalist grotesques?

Anthony Bourdain

From: The Nasty Bits (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005)

Iggy & Anthony

The Two Godafathers

Source: Night Flight

DONALD E. WESTLAKE GUARANTEES: NOT FOR HUMAN FEET

Ebb Tide Bar And Grill

Amsterdam Avenue and 158th Street, N.E. corner

Source: Museum Of The City Of New York

“When Andy Kelp walked into the OJ Bar & Grill on Amsterdam Avenue at six in the evening, the regulars were discussing the proposition that the new big buildings that had been stuck up over on Broadway, one block to the west, were actually spaceships designed and owned by aliens. “It’s for a zoo,” one regular was suggesting.”

“No no no,” a second regular said, “that isn’t what I meant.” So he was apparently the one who’d raised the suggestion in the first place. “What I meant is for the aliens to come here.”

A third regular frowned at that. “Aliens come here? When?”

“Now,” the second regular told him. “They’re here already.”

Once We Were Aliens

Aliens Entering Buildings for Examination | Postcard, 1925

Source: Museum Of The City Of New York

“I don’t see no aliens,” he said.

“Yuppies,” the second regular told him. “Where’d you think they came from? Earth?”

“Yuppies?” The third regular was a massive frowner. “How do you figure that?”

“It’s the yuppies, all right. Here they are all of a sudden all over the place, every one of them the same. Can actual adult human beings live indefinitely on ice cream and cookies? No. And did you ever see what they drink?”

“And you notice their shoes?”

“All yuppies, male and female, they all wear those same weird shoes. You know why?”

“Fashion,” the third regular said.”

“Fashion?” echoed the second regular. “How can it be fashion to wear a suit and at the same time these big clunky weird canvas sneakers? How does it work out to be fashion for a woman to put on all kindsa makeup, and fix her hair, and put on a dress and earrings and stuff around her neck, and then put on those sneakers?”

Not canvas, but still

Balenciaga Triple S

They are among us

Aliens Next Gen

“So what’s your reading on this?” the third regular asked, as the first regular, zoo partisan, stepped slowly and purposefully off his stool and removed his coat.

“Their feet are different,” the second regular explained. “On accounta they’re aliens. Human feet won’t fit into those shoes.”

Donald E. Westlake

From: “Drowned Hopes - A Dortumunder Novel” (Mysterious Press, 1990)

MORE WEIRDNESS
ENNIO FLAIANO V/S ALIENS

Cobbler Stick To Your Last

Nova | Architect Zaha Hadid for United Nude

A Word Of Warning …

Source: Museum Of The City Of New York

1951 | THE MODEL POLIA BY SALVATORE FERRAGAMO

1951 | Salvatore Ferragamo at Fortnum & Mason | London

The models Polia (below) and “Oxhy”

Source: The Observer | London October 14, 1951

“POLIA”Black suede court shoe with point de Venice lace collar - for all formal occasions. 

Salvatore Ferragamo ad
Source: The Observer | London October 14, 1951

Not to underestimate the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, but it seems the only “Polia” in existence is coming from the Shoes Or No Shoes collection.

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
I N D E X

1951 | Salvatore Ferragamo

The model Polia

Source: Shoes Or No Shoes

1952 | Salvatore Ferragamo at Hess Brothers

The model Polia

Source: The Morning Call | March 23, 1952