1967 - 1968 | UNKNOWN | TO CATCH A WHITEMAN BY HIS MANIFESTO

January 23, 2016, 1:50 am

≫ Next: A LA RECHERCHE DU HELLSTERN PERDU

1967 - 1968 | Unknown | To Catch a Whiteman by His Manifesto

Colour screenprint 49,1 X 48,1

Object history note

'To Catch a Whiteman by His Manifesto' is a portfolio containing experimental typography and concrete poetry made by Dom Sylvester Houedard and his students from Bath Academy of Art. The names of the ten students involved are; Stephen Lowndes, Sue Hudson, Liz Kelly, Jenny Osborne, Angus Davis, Erica Grice, Noelle Stewart, Alan Hext, Paul Ansell and Melody Craig.
Published by Openings Press, Corsham, Wiltshire, 1967-1968

Source: V&A Museum, London

SHOES & ART

1 9 3 2 - 2 0 0 9

↧

A LA RECHERCHE DU HELLSTERN PERDU

January 25, 2016, 12:41 am

≫ Next: JANUARY 27, 2016 | HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

≪ Previous: 1967 - 1968 | UNKNOWN | TO CATCH A WHITEMAN BY HIS MANIFESTO

Hellstern was name-checked in the novels of both Nancy Mitford and F. Scott Fitzgerald and if a flapper had money to burn, this particular shoe emporium was where she would go to salivate over their silver kid slippers and blood-red suede bar shoes.

Caroline Cox
Vintage Shoes (Carlton Books, 2008)

1948 | Hellstern & Sons patent

Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)

Nancy Mitford and Francis Scott Fitzgerald? COOL!

Only it's not true. On both counts, we checked. Now, why everyone would write such things?

- too many pictures and not enough text?

- hearsay?

- crosschecking is waste of time?

- all of the above?

Decline of Western civilization.

1922 | Hellstern & Sons patent

Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)

And then some:

Their premises were in the Place Vendome and their clientele included society women, stage performers and royalty. They are mentioned in Proust's novel.

Source: Fine Arts Museums Of San Francisco

A fit description for Hellstern & Sons, but it goes without saying that dear old Proust didn't mention them. Ever. You know the end is near if even museums fail you.

There are however a few novels that mention Hellstern and Sons like "The Shoe Queen" by Anna Davis (but they - the Hellstern shoes - are mentioned in passing as the queen shoes are Perugias); or "Man In A Hurry", a 1914 French classic by Paul Morand.

1920 - 1928 | Hellstern And Sons

Photograph Christophe Villard

Noteworthy is the biography of Gerald and Sarah Murphy:

She (Sarah Murphy) told the Hemingways that she was pining to go to Paris in September:

I want new clothes & new ideas (in order named) & Hellstern shoes & perfumery & trick hats, & linge [underwear], not to mention the eve. dress & to sit hours with Léger & his friends in cafés, & haunt rue la Boétie, & see every good new play & all music if any, & be back here in about three days & eleven hrs. twenty-seven mins. . . .

Amanda Vaill
Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy, A Lost Generation Love Story

The Murphys were a wealthy couple of American expats in Paris whose circle of friends included John Dos Passos, Ferdinand Léger, Hemingway, Picasso (who even portrayed Sara Murphy - true story) and Francis Scott Fitzgerald who used a fictionalized portrait of the Murphys in the novel "Tender Is The Night".

And that is the only link between Hellstern and Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Hellstern & Sons | Insole label

↧

JANUARY 27, 2016 | HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

January 27, 2016, 12:28 am

≫ Next: 1946 | LIFE IS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES

≪ Previous: A LA RECHERCHE DU HELLSTERN PERDU

We must polish our shoes, not because the regulation states it, but for dignity and propriety. We must walk erect, without dragging our feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, not to begin to die.

Primo Levi
[From: If This Is A Man (Survival in Auschwitz), 1958]

"Der Erste Schuh" [The First Shoe]

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Pair of well worn toddler's shoes inscribed "Der Erste Schuh" [The First Shoe] brought with 3 year old Susanna Gibian and her father Otto when they fled Vienna, Austria, for the United States in September 1938.
The infant's shoes were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 by Jill Shellow, executor for the Estate of Irene Rosenthal Gibian, the stepmother of Susanna Gibian.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

TO REMEMBER

PRIMO LEVI [1919-1987]
SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ

1991 | SUSANNA PIERATZKI
BIRTH

2005 | GYULA PAUER & CAN TOGAY
SHOES ON THE DANUBE PROMENADE

THE FOOTPRINTS FOR HOPE

PROJECT

MEMORIAL DAY 2015

↧

1946 | LIFE IS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES

January 29, 2016, 12:16 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 1 | EUGENIO GATTI

≪ Previous: JANUARY 27, 2016 | HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

Werfel, a 6-year old Austrian orphan, beams with unbounded joy as he clasps a new pair of shoes presented to him by the American Red Cross.

LIFE magazine | Original caption
December 30, 1946

6-year-old Austrian Hans Werfel defines JOY

Photograph: Gerald Waller

Source: LIFE magazine December 30, 1946

Almost five years later the same photograph reappeared in LIFE thanks to a reader:

This is Werfel, six-year-old Austrian orphan, hugging a new pair of shoes from America. For nearly five years LIFE reader Mrs. Richard Henry Wehmeyer kept this picture as a visual object lesson. "Every time I heard some petty complaint," she says, she told friends about the little boy with the new shoes, un unfolded the clipping to shoe them.

As Mrs. Wehmeyer said in her letter "This picture of a child's ecstasy over a pair of shoes has meant something personal to me for a long time." It is a special attribute of the photograph that it lasts so long - in a treasured clipping, and in the memory.

LIFE magazine
September 24, 1951

LIFE goes on

Photograph: Gerald Waller

Source: LIFE magazine September 24, 1951

Since then, the photograph has been used both in & out of context; Squibb & Sons (1952) exploited it to make clear their products - like American aids - go around the world to heal and preserve; the Pretenders (1979) used it - without credit - for their debut single "Stop Your Sobbing", a weak rendition of a Kinks song from 1964. And finally, Bad Religion altogether restored the photograph's meaning (fully credited) - with their bizarre yet amusing "Christmas Songs", 2013.

1952 | Squibb & Sons advertisement

Pretenders "Stop Your Sobbing" 7" (1979, Real Records)

The mighty Bad Religion

"Christmas Songs" - Epitaph Records, 2013

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 1 | EUGENIO GATTI

February 1, 2016, 7:15 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 2 | GIANNI GEROSA

≪ Previous: 1946 | LIFE IS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES

1959 | Eugenio Gatti

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Eugenio Gatti

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Eugenio Gatti

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

WOMEN'S SHOE DESIGNS | PART 6

1959 | Eugenio Gatti

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 2 | GIANNI GEROSA

February 3, 2016, 1:28 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 3 | DINO BORSANI

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 1 | EUGENIO GATTI

1959 | Gianni Gerosa designs

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Gianni Gerosa ad

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Gianni Gerosa designs

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Gianni Gerosa designs

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 3 | DINO BORSANI

February 5, 2016, 5:39 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 4 | MEN'S SHOES

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 2 | GIANNI GEROSA

1959 | Dino Borsani

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Dino Borsani

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Dino Borsani

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Dino Borsani

Source; Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 4 | MEN'S SHOES

February 7, 2016, 1:35 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 5 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 3 | DINO BORSANI

1959 | G. Gallazzi

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | A. Ferraris

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | R. Piccolini

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | P. Piccolini

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Pasquale Serra

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 5 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

February 7, 2016, 1:37 am

≫ Next: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 6 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 4 | MEN'S SHOES

1959 | Antonio Rolla and G.Rovelli

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Armando Pollini

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Enotrio Nembro

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Luigi Margaro

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Armando Pollini, Enotrio Nembro, Luigi Margaro, Antonio Rolla

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Stagnoli

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 6 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

February 7, 2016, 1:37 am

≫ Next: 2001 | WOODY ALLEN | THE CURSE OF THE FLORSHEIM SHOE [FEAT. ELVIS PRESLEY]

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 5 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

1959 | Trovato

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | B. Sala

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Giuseppe Caccia, Manzini, Tancredi, Mario Baldi

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Giuseppe Caccia

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Luigi Manara

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | Mario Baldi

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

1959 | O. Bellazzi

Source: Catalogue of the 14th National Shoe Fair of Vigevano

↧

2001 | WOODY ALLEN | THE CURSE OF THE FLORSHEIM SHOE [FEAT. ELVIS PRESLEY]

February 13, 2016, 12:47 am

≫ Next: 1973 | TOMORROW'S FASHION IS ALREADY AT CASTEA | PART 2

≪ Previous: 1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO | PART 6 | WOMEN'S DESIGNS

Milton Florsheim was a cobbler’s son who started the company in Chicago in 1892, hoping to produce high-quality men’s dress shoes at moderate prices. Early on, he proved to be a visionary entrepreneur: instead of selling his shoes wholesale and allowing stores to put their own labels on his products, he decided that his company’s livelihood should be in establishing direct ties to customers. As a result — and to the chagrin of retailers — he put the Florsheim name directly on the shoe’s pull-strap and sole, a move that in the coming years would become standard at other shoe companies.

Ron Stodghill
The New York Times

1923 | The Florsheim Shoe

The Exception Proves The Rule

Written, lead and directed by Woody Allen, The Curse of The Jade Scorpion is set in 40s New York. Woody's character, C.W. Briggs, a North Coast Fidelity and Casualty Insurance Company veteran investigator is being accused …

Detective:
After a careful search using some of the most up to date technics, we have found some interesting clues.

C. W. Briggs, veteran insurance investigator (Woody Allen)
Yeah? Leading to who? Eleanor Roosevelt?

Detective:
We got a shoe print off the parapet at the Kensington place.

C. W. Briggs (Woody Allen)
So?

Detective:
An 8 1/2 C Florsheim cordovan.

C. W. Briggs (Woody Allen)
Only worn by more than twenty million Americans. I wear an 8 1/2 C cordovan shoes. And let me tell you: for the money you cannot get a better shoe.

One of the twenty millions

Elvis Presley stage-worn Florsheim shoes | Sold for $ 46,875

Source: Julien's Auctions

A pair of Elvis Presley stage-worn Florsheim shoes in white and black leather. The shoes were gifted to fan club president Gary Pepper and inscribed on the sole of the left shoe “To Gary Thanks for everything your friend Elvis Presley.” Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Charlie Hodge, who was present when Presley inscribed and gave the shoes to Pepper.

Source: Julien's Auctions 2013

Early to mid Fifties | Elvis Presley shoed in Florsheim

Source: Julien's Auctions

April 16, 1928

Lehman Brothers Florsheim stock offering

↧

1973 | TOMORROW'S FASHION IS ALREADY AT CASTEA | PART 2

February 15, 2016, 1:45 am

≫ Next: 1922 - 1925 | PERUGIA COPIES BY JOHN WANAMAKER

≪ Previous: 2001 | WOODY ALLEN | THE CURSE OF THE FLORSHEIM SHOE [FEAT. ELVIS PRESLEY]

1973 | CASTEA | Detail

San Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

1973 | CASTEA

San Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan

Source: Ars Sutoria

CASTEA
SAN LORENZO DI PARABIAGO, MILAN
I N D E X

1973 | CASTEA
ZEPPE/PLATFORMS | PART 1

1973 | ZEPPE (A.K.A. PLATFORMS)

I WISH THEY WOULD GO AWAY [PART 1]

1973 | CASTEA

San Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan

↧

1922 - 1925 | PERUGIA COPIES BY JOHN WANAMAKER

February 17, 2016, 1:10 am

≫ Next: 1957 | JOSEPHI OF DELMAN | THE ROSE PETAL SANDAL

≪ Previous: 1973 | TOMORROW'S FASHION IS ALREADY AT CASTEA | PART 2

The deal with New York's department store John Wanamaker is an early sign of the huge success enjoyed by André Perugia in the Twenties.

1922 | André Perugia's debut in New York?

Source: New York Tribune | August 30, 1922

Presenting to New York
The Wanamaker Copy Of A Perugia Shoe

Perugia - the coming bootmaker of Paris - made the original, a charming new interpretation, in patent leather, of the close-fitting ankle-length slipper, with an entirely new idea for the piece over the instep.

We copied it exact in every subtlety of line, but using, in place of the original parallel lines of gray across the front, slender insets of buckskin in a soft shade of one of the modish tones between gray and brown. A few pairs are in stock now for showing and for ordering. The full line will be here early next week.

Source: New York Tribune
August 30, 1922

A few weeks after the first advertisement, a follow up informed the customers that a Wanamaker representative, who just got back from France, has been informed that Madame Perugia selected this very model as her favorite, here below from the collection of the Musée International de la Chaussure de Romans.

André Perugia models at the Musée de la Chaussure, Romans sur Isère

1923 | Perugia Copies at John Wanamaker

Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle | March 30, 1923

The shoes, faithfully copied after Perugia in the finest brown kidskin, have smartly rounded toes, light turned soles and demi-French heels.
The dark polished buckles of finest Italian and American walnut are beautifully carved and shaped to fit the instep. These may be purchased separately at $ 2,50 a pair.

Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
March 20, 1923

1924 | Perugia Copies at John Wanamaker

Source: The Sun | April 29, 1924

1925 | Perugia Copies at John Wanamaker

Source: The Sun | September 1, 1925

The Perugia-Wanamaker deal came to an end in 1925 as the 40-plus-year-long business relationship with I. Miller was about to start (1926 - The Euclid Pump). Still, legit (?) Perugia copies appeared every once in while like the one at Brooklyn's Loeser's (March 1929).

1929 | Perugia Copies at Brooklyn's Loeser's

Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle | March 5, 1929

Fashion-wise, the copies-phenomenon as a whole lasted until the Fifties when the New World stopped looking at the Old World with reverence. Or better, legit copies stopped, but knockoffs still existed, only they did't pay royalties anymore. Nowadays the situation is no different and copies even got praised by costume and fashion journalists alike: brands - being advertisers - help enormously erasing the memory cells.

ANDRE PERUGIA

D O S S I E R

John Wanamaker

Source: ALL THINGS RUFFNERIAN

A sign of the huge success reached by Perugia in the early Twenties and of the echo of his models is in this advertising made by the John Wanamaker department store in New York in 1922.

1922 | The fake André Perugia model by John Wanamaker

Source: New York Tribune newspaper

It was a model by André Perugia, but actually it wasn't made by him.

1922 | The fake André Perugia model by John Wanamaker

Source: New York Tribune newspaper

The ad says:

"Perugia - the coming bootmaker of Paris - made the original, a charming new interpretation, in patent leather, of the close-fitting ankle-length slipper, with an entirely new idea for the piece over the instep.

We copied it exact in every subtlety of line, but using, in place of the original parall lines of gray across the front, slender insets of buckskin in a soft shade of one of the modish tones between gray and brown.
A few pairs are in stock now for showing and for ordering.
The full line will be here early next week. $15."

Two copies of the original model are now at the Musée de la Chaussure of Romans, France, with blue or beige decorations.

André Perugia models at the Musée de la Chaussure, Romans sur Isère

↧

1957 | JOSEPHI OF DELMAN | THE ROSE PETAL SANDAL

February 19, 2016, 1:34 am

≫ Next: 1932 - 2016 | UMBERTO ECO

≪ Previous: 1922 - 1925 | PERUGIA COPIES BY JOHN WANAMAKER

Several designers feature flowers appliqued on leather. Josephi of Delman, a milliner turned shoe designer, builds one shoe from a fabric rose, with petals forming the bulk of the design, the stem shaping the narrow heel. Only the sole is leather.

Gay Pauley
United Press, New York | March 21, 1957

1957 | Josephi/Delman | The Rose Petal Sandal

Source: Shoes Of Tomorrow | British Pathé

A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

While the same concept (petals as heel) was later adopted by designers such as Pfister and Blahnik, the Frenchman Marc Rakotozanany went even further in 2003 patenting a Josephi replica.

Furthermore, the Josephi stem - a steel cylinder heel - went places, only longer.

HEELSTORY
HEEL HISTORY IN PICTURES

2003 | Marc Rakotozanany | Talon en forme de fleur

Source: INPI (Institute National de la Propriété Industrielle - France)

↧

1932 - 2016 | UMBERTO ECO

February 20, 2016, 11:48 pm

≫ Next: 1998 | ROBERT CLERGERIE | HEELSTORY

≪ Previous: 1957 | JOSEPHI OF DELMAN | THE ROSE PETAL SANDAL

It is always possible to isolate a cultural framework in which some contextual and circumstantial selections are coded, as in the example of alligator shoes in a Western culture.

Obviously in a savage culture where shoes are scarcely known) and where the idea that the skin of an alligator serves to make shoes is absolutely unknown), the sentence quoted above could also be interpreted as referring to shoes for alligators, thereby appearing somewhat whimsical but at least less unacceptable than the idea of killing alligators in order to make Cinderella a present.

Umberto Eco
[From: A Theory of Semiotics, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1976]

Grant Hart's red alligator shoes

Photograph: Paul Hilcoff

↧

1998 | ROBERT CLERGERIE | HEELSTORY

February 23, 2016, 12:40 am

≫ Next: 2016 | ALDO SACCHETTI | EXHIBITION AT THE FOOTWEAR MUSEUM OF VIGEVANO

≪ Previous: 1932 - 2016 | UMBERTO ECO

1998 | Robert Clergerie

Photograph: © Christophe Villard

Source: Musée international de la Chaussure | Romans

1998 | Robert Clergerie

Photograph: © Christophe Villard

Source: Musée international de la Chaussure | Romans

1998 | Robert Clergerie

Photograph: © Christophe Villard

Source: Musée international de la Chaussure | Romans

HEELSTORY
HEEL HISTORY IN PICTURES

1998 | Robert Clergerie

Source: Musée international de la Chaussure | Romans

↧

2016 | ALDO SACCHETTI | EXHIBITION AT THE FOOTWEAR MUSEUM OF VIGEVANO

February 25, 2016, 1:28 am

≫ Next: 1977 | WILLIAM SAROYAN | THE SHOEMAKER AND THE OWL

≪ Previous: 1998 | ROBERT CLERGERIE | HEELSTORY

1950s| Aldo Sacchetti

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

The ongoing Wunderkammer exhibition at the Footwear Museum of Vigevano is dedicated to Aldo Sacchetti.

The Museum houses the richest collection of models by the Turinese artisan, donated by Sacchetti himself back in 2005. On displays about twenty models from early Fifties to late Eighties along with pieces from the permanent collection.

Until March 31, 2016 at the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Info: direzione_musei@comune.vigevano.pv.it

Phone: 0381 691 928/693 952

Open:

Tuesday – Friday: 2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m

Nella Wunderkammer del Museo della Calzatura di Vigevano é in corso un'esposizione dedicata ad Aldo Sacchetti.

Il Museo ospita la più ricca collezione di calzature dell'artigiano torinese, donate nel 2005 da Sacchetti stesso. In mostra oltre venti modelli che coprono la produzione dai primi anni 50 alla fine degli 80, unitamente a quelli della collezione permanente.

Fino al 31 marzo 2016

Museo Internazionale della Calzatura di Vigevano

Info: direzione_musei@comune.vigevano.pv.it

Telefono: 0381 691 928/693 952

Orari:

Martedì - Venerdì: 14,00 - 17,30

Sabato e Domenica: 10,00 - 18,00

1950s| Aldo Sacchetti

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

1950s| Aldo Sacchetti

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

1980s| Aldo Sacchetti

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

1950s| Aldo Sacchetti | The Vanity Affair sandal

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

1950s| Aldo Sacchetti

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

ALDO SACCHETTI | TURIN
I N D E X

1965| Aldo Sacchetti sole-only shoe

At the Footwear Museum of Vigevano

Photograph: Irma Vivaldi

↧

1977 | WILLIAM SAROYAN | THE SHOEMAKER AND THE OWL

February 27, 2016, 11:59 pm

≫ Next: THE SHOE FACTORY ELIO | LUINO | VARESE | PART 1

≪ Previous: 2016 | ALDO SACCHETTI | EXHIBITION AT THE FOOTWEAR MUSEUM OF VIGEVANO

Up at number 4 bis Rue Chateaudun four blocks from my four-room flat on Rue Taitbout, is a small square room on the street, which is a shoemaker’s shop, not far from the entrance to a hotel with a name like Baltic …

CA. 1925 | Francis Spear | Discarded Shoes

Source: Liss Llevellyn Fine Art

Well, now, this man, Hovaness Shoghikian by name, is perhaps an inch or two under five feet in height, but powerfully built. As a matter of fact he was once a champion weight lifter and wrestler, and has many old photographs to prove it. In short, he is not simply a shoemaker, although he actually makes shoes, entire shoes, and for forty years has never worn a pair of shoes he hasn’t made.

1932 | Francis Spear | The Artist's Boots

Source: Liss Llevellyn Fine Art

First, it is his trade, and he likes to work at his trade, but nowadays almost nobody wants a pair of shoes made to order, to fit the feet, to fit a cast of the foot’s precise shape. Second, his own feet are small and broad, and the best he has ever been able to do in finding a ready-made pair of shoes (before he began to make his own shoes) was not very good. Ready-made shoes were always something his feet could barely tolerate.

William Saroyan
[From: Chance Meetings. A Memoir | W.W. Norton & Company, 1980]

So, what about the owl, then? Well, you have to read Chapter 25 of Saroyan's memoir. It's sweet and charming. The whole books is.

↧

THE SHOE FACTORY ELIO | LUINO | VARESE | PART 1

February 29, 2016, 12:42 am

≫ Next: THE SHOE FACTORY ELIO | LUINO | VARESE | PART 2

≪ Previous: 1977 | WILLIAM SAROYAN | THE SHOEMAKER AND THE OWL

The shoe factory ELIO was founded in Luino (Lake Maggiore) by Mario Ambrosetti in 1919. Ambrosetti, a former bank accountant born in 1896 in Capolago, was sent to Luino to recover after being wounded at the end of WWI. Not far away - 30 kilometers southbound - the Calzaturificio di Varese opened its doors back in 1899.

L’idea di fondare un calzaturificio a Luino, sul Lago Maggiore, era venuta nel 1919 ad un ex impiegato di banca, il ragionier Mario Ambrosetti, nato nel 1896 a Capolago, sul Lago di Varese. Era stato mandato in quella zona in convalescenza dopo una ferita che si era procurato in trincea, nel corso della prima guerra mondiale, insieme ad un paio di medaglie al valore. A poca distanza operava già da anni anche un'altra importante industria, il Calzaturificio di Varese.

1930's | Calzaturificio Elio

Luino, Varese

Named after a mountain basin north of Luino, the shoe factory Elio opened its plant on the site of a former textile mill and managed - in less than a decade - to employ about two hundred workers. They produced for civilians, but their main account was Empire-dreaming's Mussolini.

Partito con un piccolo laboratorio in una ex filanda, al quale aveva dato il nome di un lago (Elio, un bacino montano a nord di Luino) già dopo una decina d’anni il calzaturificio impiegava circa duecento operai e produceva calzature per civili ma soprattutto per l’Esercito Italiano che ubbidiva a Mussolini e ai sui sogni di impero.

Elio

The logo patented in 1946

The military job allowed the shoe factory to maintain in wartime the production flowing:

« with the orders from the regime, the shoe factory managed to avoid that many workers were sent to forced labor in Germany's prison camps (or worse); Ambrosetti's bold behavior land him two arrests by the SS and the absence of his son sent abroad to spare him the hard times.»

[Per l’ "Elio", Mario e Carlo Ambrosetti in Biografie Verbanensi]

La commessa militare contribuì a mantenere attiva la produzione negli anni di guerra e sotto l’occupazione tedesca:

“proprio grazie alle commesse per il regime ottenute al Calzaturificio, al suo proprietario riuscì di evitare che molte maestranze venissero avviate al lavoro coatto nei campi di prigionia (o peggio) in Germania; Ambrosetti pagò l’aver giocato sul filo del rasoio con due arresti da parte delle SS e la lontananza del figlio, inviato in terra straniera per porlo a riparo dalle traversie di quel periodo.”

(Per l’ ”Elio”, Mario e Carlo Ambrosetti in Biografie Verbanensi)

1955 | Calzaturificio Elio

Source: Emci Catalogue

1955 | Calzaturificio Elio

Source: Emci Catalogue

1955 | Calzaturificio Elio

Source: Emci Catalogue

After the Liberation and until 1952, the year of the sudden death of Mario Ambrosetti, the shoe factory thrived, expanding its market quota toward Europe, North Africa and Indonesia. The production was diversified and new brands created for different men’s lines: "Strong Shoe", "Wellington Shoe", "Owerall Shoe" (sic) and "Forward" .

Dopo la Liberazione e fino al 1952, anno della morte improvvisa di Mario Ambrosetti per un incidente, il calzaturificio visse una fase espansiva, sia come struttura che come mercati, iniziando ad esportare in altri Paesi europei, nord Africa e l’attuale Indonesia. Si differenziò la produzione e nuovi marchi caratterizzarono diverse linee di calzature da uomo: furono così depositati i brevetti per la “Strong Shoe”, la “Wellington Shoe”, la “Owerall Shoe” e la “Forward”

1959 | The shoe box of Calzaturificio Elio

Source: Emci Catalogue

1959 | Calzaturificio Elio

Source: Emci Catalogue

THE SHOE FACTORY ELIO | LUINO, VARESE

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

1959 | Mario Ambrosetti

Portrait by Angelo Frattini (1910-1975)

At Civico Museo d'Arte Moderna

e Contemporanea Castello di Masnago

Source: Lombardia Beni Culturali

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THE SHOE FACTORY ELIO | LUINO | VARESE | PART 2

March 2, 2016, 12:02 am

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After his father's death, twenty-eight years old Carlo took control of the company. For a decade he maintained a high-level production of men's footwear and a steady presence in exhibitions and trade fairs. Regrettably, their market quota didn't expand and export volumes remained low. Rebranding as "Calzaturificio Luino" didn't help either and finally Carlo Ambrosetti sold to Switzerland's Bally in 1962.

Dopo la morta del padre, la direzione passò al figlio Carlo, all’epoca ventottenne. Per una decina d’anni Carlo cercò di mantenere in forze l’azienda attraverso la partecipazione a fiere di settore e la produzione di modelli da uomo di alto livello e linee ricercate, ma i risultati non furono quelli sperati. Dopo il cambio di nome dell’azienda che fu ribattezzata “Calzaturificio di Luino”, Carlo Ambrosetti la cedette alla svizzera Bally nel 1962.

The new management kept the production of luxury men's shoes until 1967. Under pressure from the Trade Union's demands, Bally left Italy and fired two hundred workers. After a two years shutdown, the company was acquired by the Borri shoe factory in Busto Arsizio.

Under Mario Borri's guide, the shoe factory Elio became just another division of the Borri company, limiting its production to uppers and components. From 400 employees in 1969 they downsized to 120 in 1990, the year when the Luino's shoe factory closed its doors for good.

Furono gli ultimi anni buoni. La nuova gestione mantenne la produzione di calzature di lusso da uomo solo per pochi anni, fino al 1967. In seguito a rivendicazioni sindacali, la Bally lasciò l’Italia e licenziò duecento operai. Dopo due anni di chiusura, il destino del calzaturificio luinese si incrociò con quello dello storico Calzaturificio Borri di Busto Arsizio, che ne acquisì la proprietà.

Con la direzione di Mario Borri, l’ex Elio diventò succursale dell’azienda bustese, riducendosi alla produzione di tomaie e componenti. I 400 dipendenti del 1969 scesero a 120 quando, nel 1990, il Calzaturificio di Luino chiuse definitivamente l'attività.