A century after the opening of his first store Salvatore Ferragamo in Hollywood, the shoe designer’s eponymous house presents a retrospective detailing his life and career.

The Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 exhibition at the Ferragamo Museum at the house’s headquarters in Florence celebrates the pioneering spirit of the visionary designer, his iconic creations and relationships, as well as his penchant for invention and innovation in nine sections.

The exhibition presents archival designs, Ferragamo’s research, which ultimately led to numerous innovative moments in his career.

His studies in anatomy, his experience in construction and decoration, his experimentation with color, his bold investigation into shapes and materials, and the varied artistic and cultural inspirations that eventually led Salvatore back to Florence, Italy in 1927 are highlighted in exhibition, according to its official description.

First, the personal story of the house’s founder is shown, from his birth in Bonito in 1898 to his untimely death in 1960.

Then photos, videos and footwear describe the designer’s time in Hollywood, from 1923 to 1927. Another section is dedicated to his materials and sources of inspiration.

A separate section is dedicated to Ferragamo’s scientific studies on the structure of the foot, solutions for footwear support based on body weight and distribution, anatomical designs and its leading conclusions in the industry.

All of the designer’s inventions and the patents he obtained for them, such as the cork platform shoes, the strappy sandals, but also the colors from his archive, vivid yellow, black, emerald, blue, gold, silver and the his favorite, red are also featured in the exhibition.

Photographs of famous movie stars and aristocrats and representatives of the jet set wearing his creations have been included in the exhibition “Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960” hosted until November 2024 at the Museo Ferragamo, Piazza di Santa Trinita in Florence.