Walking Dreams: Salvatore Ferragamo, 1898-1960

Walking Dreams explores the life and work of the legendary Italian shoe designer, an artist who revolutionized footwear by introducing new styles and innovative materials that called up associations with furniture, domestic objects and radical architecture. Ferragamo’s work was always experimental, from cork wedges made from Italian wine-stoppers to stiletto heels, both of which he invented, to towering platforms in pressed and rounded layers, sometimes sculpted or painted, sometimes decorated with gems or shockingly tiny mirror mosaics. Over the years, Ferragamo patented systems for making leather substitutes, systems for producing raffia or jersey uppers, heels made of transparent bakelite, and wooden soles held together with traditional joinery.