He created jewels, not shoes.
Mario Valentino
1980 | L'Officiel De La Mode
Andre Perugia was an innovator. He had a lifelong contract with I. Miller. When we traveled to the company's Carlisle, Pa., factory, he told [the workers] what he wanted to make, and they said, "Get him out of here," because his ideas were so far out there. He tried cage heels, no heels, under-slung heels, but they never came out in the mainstream then. Perugia was an original. He made all these designs that designers are still influenced by today.
Arsho Baghsarian (Dior, I.Miller, Shoe Biz, Stuart Weitzman)
July 2008 | Footwear News
Studi completi su André Perugia non esistono. L'opuscolo scritto da Odile Premel per la collezione Perugia, custodita dalla società Charles Jourdan, rappresenta una preziosa eccezione tanto da riapparire quasi integralmente - e privo di crediti - nel libro "The Art Of The Shoe" (Parkstone Press, 2004). Per contro, la voce di Wikipedia, in realtà solo un segnaposto, contiene due errori in tre righe. E così pure le varie biografie pubblicate in molti libri e riproposte acriticamente in rete con il conseguente propagarsi di mezze verità, falsi miti ed errori pacchiani. Qui proponiamo solo una parte del nostro lavoro di ricerca su André Perugia, mentre un nostro libro a lui dedicato vedrà la luce a tempo debito.
A thorough study about André Perugia doesn't exists. Actually - forget thorough - there's no study at all about the Italian-French bottier, save for the precious booklet written by Odile Premel, about the Charles Jourdan-owned Perugia collection, which reappeared - the bulk of it - uncredited in the book "The Art Of The Shoe" (Parkstone Press, 2004). On the other hand, the Wikipedia entry - just a stub - contains two errors in three sentences. And the same goes about biographical notes published in many books (not) quoted all over the web without double checking. Here you'll find just a small part of our research about André Perugia, while the complete work will appears in due time in a book form.
HEELSTORY
[André Perugia Patents & Inventions]
1934
Wire Metal Heels
1939
Talon à Boules
Eartha Kitt LOVES That Talon à Boules (Stacked Spheres heel)
1951
It's A Shoe-In
1953
The Corkscrew Heel Pump
1956
I.Miller Is The Trend
Perugia & Mervin Zuckerman
The Twin Patents | Interchangeable Heels for I.Miller
1958
Perugia for I.Miller
The Chemise Heel
PerugiART
1924
The Arlequinade shoe companion for Poiret
1925/1926
The Orphic Collection Part 1 | Part 2
1937
The Perugia Shoe & The Schiaparelli Hat
1938
The Suede & Monkey-Fur Boots For Schiaparelli
Homage To René Magritte
1940
The Panchromatic Pantoufle
[With Pierre Roy]
1953
Perugia & Andy Warhol
The Cubist Sandal
1923-1950s
Perugia & Andy Warhol
From Footwear To Art [And Back Again]
1955 [NOT 1931]
The Fish Shoe
Homage To Georges Braque
1927
Blanche Montel
1954
New Faces (Taken from Broadway production "Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952"
Starring Eartha Kitt
1957
Cinderella
(Starring Julie Andrews)
1920
The Model "Caprice"
The Model Automne #2
1921 - 1929
The Mask Models (feat. The Harlequin)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Perugia copies by John Wanamaker
1923
The model "Diablotin"
The model "Athénien"
1924
The Arlequinade shoe companion for Poiret
Evening Shoes
[As Seen In Vogue. Now At A Museum Near You]
1926
The Euclid Geometric Pumps
André Perugia For I.Miller
Mistinguett
And Her Perugia Monogrammed Shoes
1926/1927
The Model "Rosary"
1927
The Model Gocasse for I.Miller & Alpina
[Feat. Josephine Baker]
1925/1926
The Orphic Collection Part 1 | Part 2
1937
The Perugia Shoe & The Schiaparelli Hat
1938
The Suede & Monkey-Fur Boots For Schiaparelli
Homage To René Magritte
1940
The Panchromatic Pantoufle
[With Pierre Roy]
1953
Perugia & Andy Warhol
The Cubist Sandal
1923-1950s
Perugia & Andy Warhol
From Footwear To Art [And Back Again]
1955 [NOT 1931]
The Fish Shoe
Homage To Georges Braque
THE MOVIES &
THEATRE
PRODUCTIONS
1927
Blanche Montel
1954
New Faces (Taken from Broadway production "Leonard Sillman's New Faces Of 1952"
Starring Eartha Kitt
Cinderella
(Starring Julie Andrews)
CHRONICLES
[Perugia Year By Year]
The Model "Caprice"
The Model Automne #2
1921 - 1925
Perugia Shoes As Seen In La Gazette Du Bon Ton
1921 - 1929
The Mask Models (feat. The Harlequin)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
1922
Perugia Mule Incognito At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, NY
Perugia copies by John Wanamaker
The Perugia/Warhol Golden Shoe (In RED)
The Perugia/Warhol Golden Shoe At The Moulin Rouge (Also In GREEN)
The model "Diablotin"
The model "Athénien"
1924
The Arlequinade shoe companion for Poiret
1925
[As Seen In L'Officiel De La Mode]
Evening Shoes
[As Seen In Vogue. Now At A Museum Near You]
1926
The Euclid Geometric Pumps
André Perugia For I.Miller
Mistinguett
And Her Perugia Monogrammed Shoes
1926/1927
The Model "Rosary"
1927
The Model Gocasse for I.Miller & Alpina
[Feat. Josephine Baker]
1928
Marylin Miller For André Perugia
[Feat. Alexander Stirling Calder]
Perugia Advertisement In PAN
Annuaire Du Luxe A Paris
1929
The Articulated Sole
The model "Rêverie"
1933
Model for Hortense Lenore Mitchell
1934
Sophie Gimbel Wears André Perugia's Padova
André Perugia's Padova at London's V&A
1937
The Original Heel-Less Shoe
The Schiaparelli/Dalí shoe-hat & the shoe
Perugia for Schiaparelli S/S 1937
1938
Sandal for Schiaparelli (Blueprint for a Delman sandal)
The Draped Heel
1939
Perugia Incognito On The Cover of Harper's Bazaar
[Drawing By A.M. Cassandre]
Meet Lucienne Legrand
[Mrs. André Perugia]
1939 | The Three Sphere Sandal
For Elsa Schiaparelli
1940
1948 - 1952 | André Perugia for Christian Dior
1948 - 1952 | INTRO
1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT | PART 1 | PART 2
1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS]
1948 - 1952 | EPILOGUE
1949
Court Shoes Of Clear Nylon
1950
The Icon Shoe At BATA Shoe Museum
[For Lack Of Better Words]
1950's
Perugia And Pierre Cardin
1951
Evening Sandal With Satin Inner Boot
1953
The Corkscrew Heel Pump
1955
The V Throat line
[For Jacques Fath & I.Miller]
1949 - 1951 | BARING THE FOOT | PART 1 | PART 2
1950 - 1952 | BEAU A LA MODE [BOWS]
1948 - 1952 | EPILOGUE
1949
Court Shoes Of Clear Nylon
1950
The Icon Shoe At BATA Shoe Museum
[For Lack Of Better Words]
1950's
Perugia And Pierre Cardin
1951
Evening Sandal With Satin Inner Boot
1953
The Corkscrew Heel Pump
1955
The V Throat line
[For Jacques Fath & I.Miller]
For Jacques Fath
Part 2
1956
I.Miller Is The Trend
[Perugia Invents, I.Miller Presents]
The Disappearing Pump for Givenchy
Part 1 | Part 2
The "Cape"
The Circlet Boot
1956-1960
A Passion for Lastex
André Perugia Speaks
1957
The "Forecast" model
Spectators for I.Miller
Paradox: the Open/Closed Look For I.Miller
1958
The "Chemise Heel"
For I.Miller
1959
The French Look Last
For I.Miller
1960
The White/Black Dècolletè
VARIOUS YEARS
Perugia At The MET
Setting The Record Straight
ANDRE PERUGIA
AT THE MUSEE D'HISTOIRE DE LA VIE QUOTIDIENNE
Part 1 | Part 2
STRANGER THAN FICTION
André Perugia cameo appearances in novels
André Perugia Speaks
1957
The "Forecast" model
Spectators for I.Miller
Paradox: the Open/Closed Look For I.Miller
1958
The "Chemise Heel"
For I.Miller
1959
The French Look Last
For I.Miller
1960
The White/Black Dècolletè
VARIOUS YEARS
Perugia At The MET
Setting The Record Straight
ANDRE PERUGIA
AT THE MUSEE D'HISTOIRE DE LA VIE QUOTIDIENNE
Part 1 | Part 2
STRANGER THAN FICTION
André Perugia cameo appearances in novels
 |
| 1955 | André Perugia | The fish-shoe at 'La chaussure, une passion française ' - Atelier Richelieu, Paris 2012 Source: Getty Images |
