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Vogue editors Anna Wintour and André Leon Talley during New York Fashion Week

Uptitude model on Asunción Fashion Week 2008

The model Bruna Tenório during São Paulo Fashion Week.

A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know what's "in" and what's "out" for the season. The most prominent fashion weeks are held in the four fashion capitals of the world: New York City, London, Milan, and Paris.^[1] Some other important fashion weeks in the world are held in Australia, Bangalore, Jakarta, Berlin, Bangkok, Barcelona, Seoul, Tokyo, São Paulo, Los Angeles, Łódź, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Toronto, Madrid.^{[citation needed]}

Characteristics[link]

In the major fashion capitals, fashion weeks are semiannual events. January through April designers showcase their autumn and winter collections and September through November the spring/summer collections are shown. Fashion weeks must be held several months in advance of the season to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. This is also to allow time for retailers to arrange to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing. Latest innovations in dress designs are showcased by renowned fashion designers during these fashion weeks, and all these latest collections are covered in magazines such as designerzcentral and Vogue.

Schedule[link]

New York City, London, Milan, and Paris each host a fashion week twice a year with New York beginning each season and the other cities following in the aforementioned order.

There are two major seasons per year - Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. For womenswear, the Autumn/Winter shows always start in New York in February and end in Paris in March. Spring/Summer shows start in New York in September and end in Paris in October. Menswear Autumn/Winter shows start in January in Milan for typically less than a week followed by another short week in Paris. Menswear Spring/Summer shows are done in June. Womenswear haute couture shows typically happen in Paris a week after the Menswear Paris shows. For the first time, womenswear haute couture will also be shown in Singapore, during its haute couture Women's Fashion Week in October 2011. This will be the first time womenswear haute couture shows are held outside of Paris.^[2][3]

Over the past few years,^[when?] more and more designers have shown inter-seasonal collections between the traditional Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons. These collections are usually more commercial than the main season collections and help shorten the customer's wait for new season clothes. The inter-seasonal collections are Resort/Cruise (before Spring/Summer) and Pre-Fall (before Autumn/Winter). There is no fixed schedule for these shows in any of the major fashion capitals but they typically happen three months after the main season shows. Some designers show their inter-seasonal collections outside their home city. For example, Karl Lagerfeld has shown his Resort and Pre-Fall collections for Chanel in cities such as Moscow, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo instead of Paris. Many designers also put on presentations as opposed to traditional shows during Resort and Pre-Fall either to cut down costs or because they feel the clothes can be better understood in this medium.

Some fashion weeks can be genre-specific, such as a Miami Fashion Week (swimwear), Rio Summer (swimwear), Prêt-a-Porter (ready-to-wear) Fashion Week, Couture (one-of-a-kind designer original) Fashion Week and Bridal Fashion Week, while Portland (Oregon, USA) Fashion Week shows some eco-friendly designers.

History[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In 1943, the first french Fashion Week was held, with one main purpose: to distract attention from French fashion during World War II, when workers in the fashion industry were unable to travel to Paris. This was an opportune moment - as for centuries designers in America were thought to be reliant on the French for inspiration. The fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized an event she called ‘Press Week’ to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, who had previously ignored their works. The Press Week was a success, and, as a result, magazines like Vogue (which were normally filled with French designs) began to feature more and more American innovations. Until 1994, shows were held in different locations, such as hotels, or lofts. Eventually, after a structural accident at a Michael Kors show, the event moved to Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library, where it remained until 2010, when the shows relocated to Lincoln Center.

However, long before Lambert, there were fashion shows throughout America. In 1903, a New York City shop called Ehrich Brothers put on what is thought to have been the country’s first fashion show to lure middle-class females into the store.^[4] By 1910, many big department stores were holding shows of their own. It is likely that American retailers saw that they were called 'fashion parades' in Paris couture salons and decided to use the idea. These parades were an effective way to promote stores, and improved their status. By the 1920s, the fashion show had been used by retailers up and down the country. They were staged, and often held in the shop’s restaurant during lunch or teatime. These shows were usually more theatrical than those of today, heavily based upon a single theme, and accompanied with a narrative commentary. The shows were hugely popular, enticing crowds in their thousands – crowds so large, that stores in New York in the fifties had to obtain a license to have live models.

See also[link]

• Jakarta Fashion Week
• Asia Fashion Exchange
• Ready-to-wear
• Bangalore Fashion Week
• Buenos Aires Fashion Week
• LG Fashion Week
• Dallas Fashion Week
• Los Angeles Fashion Week
• Fashion design
• Haute couture

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fashion weeks

External links[link]

• Fashion Weeks 2012
• Ex-USSR Fashion Weeks

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Jean Paul Gaultier
Born	(1952-04-24) 24 April 1952 (age 60) Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Fashion designer
Labels	Jean Paul Gaultier, Hermès

Jean Paul Gaultier (French: [ʒɑ̃ pɔl ɡotje]; born 24 April 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France) is a French haute couture fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010.^[1] In the past, he has hosted the television series Eurotrash.

Life and career[link]

Gaultier never received formal training as a designer. Instead, he started sending sketches to famous couture stylists at an early age. Pierre Cardin was impressed by his talent and hired him as an assistant in 1970. Afterwards he worked with Jacques Esterel in 1971 and Jean Patou later that year, then returning to manage the Pierre Cardin boutique in Manila for a year in 1974.^[2]

His first individual collection was released in 1976 and his characteristic irreverent style dates from 1981, and he has long been known as the enfant terrible of French fashion. Many of Gaultier's following collections have been based on street wear, focusing on popular culture, whereas others, particularly his Haute Couture collections, are very formal yet at the same time unusual and playful.

Although most people found his designs decadent at the time, fashion editors, notably Melka Tréanton of Elle, Claude Brouet and Catherine Lardeur of French Marie Claire, were seduced by his creativity and immediately noticed his mastery of tailoring and later launched his career.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} In 1985 he introduced man-skirts, and produced sculptured costumes for Madonna during the nineties, starting with her infamous cone bra for her 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, and designed the wardrobe for her 2006 Confessions Tour. Gaultier has also worked in close collaboration with Wolford Hosiery. He promoted the use of skirts, especially kilts on men's wardrobe, and the release of designer collections.

Jean-Paul Gaultier's bread exhibit, Paris, 2004.

Gaultier caused shock by using unconventional models for his exhibitions, like older men and full-figured women, pierced and heavily tattooed models, and by playing with traditional gender roles in the shows. This earned him both criticism and enormous popularity.

At the end of the 1980s, Gaultier suffered some personal losses, including his lover and business partner Francis Menuge, who died of AIDS-related causes.^[8]

Gaultier designed the wardrobe of many motion pictures, including Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Pedro Almodóvar's Kika, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's La Cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children). He currently designs for three collections: his own couture and ready-to-wear lines, for both men and women.

In 1988 Gaultier released a dance single titled "How To Do That" on Fontana records from which came one of the first ever "single title" remix albums "Aow Tou Dou Zat" on Mercury records.^[9] The album includes mixes by Norman Cook, JJ Jeczalik, George Shilling, Mark Saunders, Latin Rascals, David Dorrell, Tim Atkins, Carl Atkins, and Mantronik. Co-written & produced by Tony Mansfield, video directed by Jean Baptiste Mondino. The album also featured a collaboration with accordion player Yvette Horner.

Gaultier has designed a number of the costumes and outfits worn by rocker Marilyn Manson,^[10] including the outfits for Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque album.^[11] In France the costumes he designed for singer Mylène Farmer gained much attention. In spring 2008 he signed a contract to be again the fashion designer for her tour in 2009.

He's also well known for his exhibit in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art known as Bravehearts — Men in Skirts.^[12]

He has designed the costumes for Kylie Minogue's international KYLIEX2008 tour, as well as the late iconic Hong Kong singer Leslie Cheung, who hired Gaultier to design eight different costumes for the last concert tour before Cheung's death.^[13][14][15]

In 2012, he was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[16] This is the first time a fashion designer was called to sit on a jury at the festival.^[17]

Gallery of selected past designs[link]

• 

  Gaultier's notoriety increased in the 1980s with several cone-breasted designs, similar to one worn on tour by Madonna.

• 

  A bustier-style dress made of grass that is woven to resemble feathers.

• 

  Designs resembling the human muscle and circulatory systems (left) and torsolette, or "merry widow" undergarments (right).

• 

  An iconoclastic white lace design combining a halo and mask similar to fetish bondage-wear.

Collections and labels[link]

Gaultier at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Active Labels Labels include Jean Paul Gaultier, Gaultier PARIS – couture collection – and former JEAN'S Paul Gaultier, Eyewear Jean Paul Gaultier and Jean Paul Gaultier Argent. Besides his ready-to-wear collection, in 1988 Gaultier expanded his brand to include the label Junior Gaultier, a lower-priced line designed for the youth market with a heavy nautical influence that he began to carry throughout all of his collections. In 1988, a Junior Gaultier outfit was selected by Jeff Banks as the Dress of the Year.^[18] The Junior Gaultier label was replaced in 1994 with JPG by Gaultier, a unisex collection that followed the designer's idea of fluidity of the sexes. Gaultier Jean's, a similar line consisting mainly of denim and more simply styled garments with a heavy street influence, followed in 1992, which was then replaced with Jean's Paul Gaultier from 2004 to 2008. Junior Gaultier's name was reused in 2009 for the launching of the child's wear, to be completed with a Baby Line in 2011.

What brought Gaultier immense success was the advent of his haute couture line in 1997. Through this collection, he was able to freely express the scope and range of his aesthetic, drawing inspiration from radically divergent cultures, from imperial India to Hasidic Judaism. As a result of this success, Hermès hired Gaultier as creative director from 2003 to 2010. Hermes took a 30% stake in Jean Paul Gaultier in 2003 and later increased their stake to 45%.^[1]

Gaultier's Spring 2009 couture was influenced by the visual style of singer Klaus Nomi^[19] and he used Nomi's recording of Cold Song in his runway show.^[20]

Perfumes[link]

Le Male Perfume by Jean Paul Gaultier

In addition to being a fashion designer, Jean Paul Gaultier is known for a popular line of perfumes. His first fragrance, Classique, a women's floral-oriental, was introduced in 1993, followed by Le Mâle for men two years later. Both were highly successful, and Le Mâle is now the number-one men's fragrance in the European Union based on sales; it also holds a strong market position in Australia and the United States.

His third fragrance, the women's fragrance Fragile, was introduced in 2000; however, it is now in limited distribution due to poor sales. In 2005, the unisex "fragrance for humanity" Gaultier² (pronounced Gaultier to the power of two) was launched (except in Canada, where it was launched in January 2006, and the United States, where it was launched in August 2006). Most recently, Jean Paul Gaultier's latest men's fragrance, Fleur du Mâle was launched in April 2007. Shortly thereafter, the "Eau de Cologne Fleur du Male" was released demonstrating a lighter version of the Fleur du Male. The newest in the Gaultier family of fragrances is ladies fragrance "Ma Dame".

The 6 July 2011 the new men's fragrance, Kokorico,^[21] has been launched at the La Gaîté Lyrique, just after the Haute Couture F/w 2011-2012 fashion show^[22]

All Jean Paul Gaultier perfumes are produced under a long-term license by Paris-based Beauté Prestige International.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Jean-Paul Gaultier Site
• Jean Paul Gaultier on Fashion Net
• "Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php. 
• Tous les défilés Jean-Paul Gaultier en images - Madame Figaro

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011)

Johann Paul Friedrich Richter
Born	(1763-03-21)21 March 1763 Wunsiedel, Holy Roman Empire
Died	14 November 1825(1825-11-14) (aged 62) Bayreuth, Germany
Pen name	Jean Paul
Occupation	novelist
Nationality	German
Period	1783-1825
Genres	Humour
Subjects	Education, politics

Jean Paul (21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825), born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.

Life and work[link]

Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Fichtelgebirge mountains (Bavaria). His father was an organist at Wunsiedel. In 1765 his father became a pastor at Joditz near Hof, and in 1767 at Schwarzenbach, but he died on 25 April 1779, leaving the family in great poverty. After attending the Gymnasium at Hof, Jean Paul went in 1781 to the University of Leipzig. His original intention was to enter his father's profession, but theology did not interest him, and he soon devoted himself wholly to the study of literature. Unable to maintain himself at Leipzig he returned in 1784 to Hof, where he lived with his mother. From 1787 to 1789 he served as a tutor at Töpen, a village near Hof; and from 1790 to 1794 he taught the children of several families in a school he had founded in nearby Schwarzenbach.

Jean Paul began his career as a man of letters with Grönländische Prozesse ("Greenland Lawsuits", published anonymously in Berlin) and Auswahl aus des Teufels Papieren ("Selections from the Devil's Papers", signed J. P. F. Hasus), the former of which was issued in 1783-84, the latter in 1789. These works were not received with much favour, and in later life Richter himself had little sympathy for their satirical tone. A spiritual crisis he suffered on 15 November 1790, in which he had a vision of his own death, altered his outlook profoundly. His next book, Die unsichtbare Loge ("The Invisible Lodge"), a romance published in 1793 under the pen-name Jean Paul (in honour of Jean Jacques Rousseau), had all the qualities that were soon to make him famous, and its power was immediately recognized by some of the best critics of the day.

Encouraged by the reception of Die unsichtbare Loge, Richter composed a number of books in rapid succession: Leben des vergnügten Schulmeisterleins Maria Wutz in Auenthal ("Life of the Cheerful Schoolmaster Maria Wutz", 1793), the best-selling Hesperus (1795), which made him famous, Biographische Belustigungen unter der Gehirnschale einer Riesin ("Biographical Recreations under the Brainpan of a Giantess", 1796), Leben des Quintus Fixlein ("Life of Quintus Fixlein", 1796), Der Jubelsenior ("The Parson in Jubilee", 1797), and Das Kampaner Tal ("The Valley of Campan", 1797). Also among these was the novel Blumen- Frucht- und Dornenstücke, oder Ehestand, Tod und Hochzeit des Armenadvokaten Siebenkäs ("Flower, Fruit and Thorn Pieces; or, the Married Life, Death and Wedding of Siebenkäs, Poor Man's Lawyer") in 1796-97.

The book's slightly supernatural theme, involving a Doppelgänger and pseudocide, stirred some controversy over its interpretation of the Resurrection, but these criticisms served only to draw awareness to the author. This series of writings assured Richter a place in German literature, and during the rest of his life every work he produced was welcomed by a wide circle of admirers.

After his mother's death in 1797, Richter went to Leipzig, and in the following year to Weimar, where he started work on his most ambitious novel, Titan, published between 1801-02. Richter became friends with such Weimar notables as Herder, by whom he was warmly appreciated, but despite their close proximity, Richter never become close to Goethe and Schiller, both of whom found his literary methods repugnant; but in Weimar, as elsewhere, his remarkable conversational powers and his genial manners made him a favorite in general society. The English writers Thomas Carlyle and Thomas de Quincy took an interest in Jean Paul's work.

In 1801 he married Caroline Meyer, whom he had met in Berlin the year before. They lived first at Meiningen, then at Coburg; and finally, in 1804, they settled at Bayreuth. Here Richter spent a quiet, simple and happy life, constantly occupied with his work as a writer. In 1808 he was fortunately delivered from anxiety about outward necessities by Prince Primate Karl Theodor von Dalberg, who gave him an annual pension of 1,000 florins which was later continued by the king of Bavaria.

Jean Paul's Titan was followed by Flegeljahre ("The Awkward Age", 1804-5). His later imaginative works were Dr Katzenbergers Badereise ("Dr Katzenberger's Trip to the Medicinal Springs", 1809), Des Feldpredigers Schmelzle Reise nach Flätz ("Army Chaplain Schmelzle's Voyage to Flätz", 1809), Leben Fibels ("Life of Fibel", 1812), and Der Komet, oder Nikolaus Marggraf ("The Comet, or, Nikolaus Markgraf", 1820–22). In Vorschule der Aesthetik ("Introduction to Aesthetics", 1804) he expounded his ideas on art; he discussed the principles of education in Levana, oder Erziehungslehre ("Levana, or, Pedagogy", 1807); and the opinions suggested by current events he set forth in Friedenspredigt ("Peace Sermon", 1808), Dämmerungen für Deutschland ("Twilights for Germany", 1809), Mars und Phöbus Thronwechsel im Jahre 1814 ("Mars and Phoebus Exchange Thrones in the Year 1814", 1814), and Politische Fastenpredigten ("Political Lenten Sermons", 1817). In his last years he began Wahrheit aus Jean Pauls Leben ("The Truth from Jean Paul's Life"), to which additions from his papers and other sources were made after his death by C. Otto and E. Förster.

Also during this time he supported the younger writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, who long counted Richter among his influences. Richter wrote the preface to Fantasy Pieces, a collection of Hoffmann's short stories published in 1814.

In September 1821 Jean Paul lost his only son, Max, a youth of the highest promise; and he never quite recovered from this shock. He lost his sight in 1824, and died of dropsy at Bayreuth, on 14 November 1825.

Characteristics of his work[link]

Friedrich Schiller said of Jean Paul that he would have been worthy of admiration if he had made as good use of his riches as other men made of their poverty—the classic approach of "Weimar".

But in working out his conceptions, Jean Paul found it appropriate to express any powerful feeling by which he might happen to be moved. He made it his style to use seemingly out-of-the-way facts or psychological notions which occurred to him. Hence every one of his works is irregular in structure and his style lacks directness, though never grace. His imagination was one of extraordinary fertility, and he had a surprising power of suggesting great thoughts by means of the simplest incidents and relations.

The love of nature was one of Jean Paul's deepest pleasures; his expressions of religious feelings are also marked by a truly poetic spirit, for to him visible things were but the symbols of the invisible, and in the unseen realities alone he found elements which seemed to him to give significance and dignity to human life. His humour, the most distinctive of his qualities, cannot be dissociated from the other characteristics of his writings. It mingled with all his thoughts, and to some extent determined the form in which he embodied even his most serious reflections. That it is sometimes extravagant and grotesque cannot be disputed, but it is never harsh nor vulgar, and generally it springs naturally from the perception of the incongruity between ordinary facts and ideal laws.

Jean Paul's personality was deep and many-sided; with all his willfulness and eccentricity he was a man of a pure and sensitive spirit, with a passionate scorn for pretence and an ardent enthusiasm for truth and goodness.

The last scene of Jean Paul's Flegeljahre was the inspiration behind Robert Schumann's composition "Papillons" Op. 2, and Schumann´s Humoreske Op. 20 is inspired by Jean Paul.

19th century works on Jean Paul[link]

Richter's Sämtliche Werke (Complete Works) appeared in 1826-28 in 60 volumes, to which were added 5 volumes of Literarischer Nachlass (literary bequest) in 1836-38; a second edition was published in 1840-42 (33 volumes); a third in 1860-62 (24 volumes). The last complete edition is that edited by R. Gottschall (60 parts, 1879). Editions of selected works appeared in 16 volumes (1865), in Kürschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur (edited by P. Nerrlich, 6 vols, pp. 388–487), &c. The chief collections of Richter's correspondence are:

• Jean Pauls Briefe an F. H. Jacobi (1828)
• Briefwechsel Jean Pauls mit seinem Freunde C. Otto (1829–33)
• Briefwechsel zwischen H. Voss und Jean Paul (1833)
• Briefe an eine Jugendfreundin (1858)
• P. Nerrlich, Jean Pauls Briefwechsel mit seiner Frau und seinem Freunde Otto (1902).

See further:

• The continuation of Richter's autobiography by C. Otto and E. Fürster (1826–33)
• H. Dring, J. P. F. Richters Leben und Charakteristik (1830–32)
• Richard Otto Spazier, JPF Richter: ein biographischer Commentar zu dessen Werken (5 vols, 1833)
• E. Förster, Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem Leben von J. P. F. Richter (1863)
• Paul Nerrlich, Jean Paul und seine Zeitgenossen (1876)
• J. Firmery, Étude sur la vie et les œuvres de J. P. F. Richter (1886)
• P. Nerrlich, Jean Paul, sein Leben und seine Werke (1889)
• Ferdinand Josef Schneider, Jean Pauls Altersdichtung (1901); and Jean Pauls Jugend und erstes Auftreten in der Literatur (1906).
• Thomas Carlyle's two essays on Richter.

Quotations[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jean Paul

• Joy is inexhaustible, unlike seriousness.
• Music is the moonlight in the gloomy night of life.
• Many young people get worked up about opinions that they will share in 20 years.
• Too much trust is a foolishness, too much distrust a tragedy.
• The German language is the organ among the languages. (Die deutsche Sprache ist die Orgel unter den Sprachen.)
• A man never describes his own character so clearly as when he describes another.
• We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.
• What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.

Works[link]

• Grönländische Prozesse 1783-1784
• Auswahl aus des Teufels Papieren 1789
• Leben des vergnügten Schulmeisterlein Maria Wutz 1790
• Die unsichtbare Loge 1793
• Hesperus (book) 1795
• Biographische Belustigungen 1796
• Leben des Quintus Fixlein 1796
• Siebenkäs 1796
• Der Jubelsenior 1797
• Das Kampaner Tal 1797
• Des Luftschiffers Giannozzo Seebuch 1801
• Titan 1800-03
• Flegeljahre (unfinished) 1804
• Vorschule der Aesthetik 1804
• Levana oder Erziehlehre 1807
• Dr. Katzenbergers Badereise 1809
• Des Feldpredigers Schmelzle Reise nach Flätz 1809
• Leben Fibels 1812
• Bemerkungen über uns närrische Menschen
• Clavis Fichtiana (see also Johann Gottlieb Fichte)
• Das heimliche Klaglied der jetzigen Männer
• Der Komet 1820-1822
• Der Maschinenmann
• Die wunderbare Gesellschaft in der Neujahrsnacht
• Freiheits-Büchlein

English translations[link]

Richter's more important works have been translated into English, for example:

• Quintus Fixlein and Schmelzles Reise, by Carlyle
• Walt and Vult by Lee (1846)
• Titan by Brooks (1863)
• Flower, Fruit and Thorn Pieces by Ewing (1877)
• Levana by Wood (1887)

References[link]

• Fleming, Paul. The Pleasures of Abandonment: Jean Paul and the Life of Humor. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2006.
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Richter, Johann Paul Friedrich". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  "Richter, Johann Paul Friedrich". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jean Paul

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean Paul

• Works by Jean Paul on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Works by Jean Paul at Zeno.org (German)
• Jean Paul's works at Projekt Gutenberg-DE (in German)
• Famous Quotes by Jean Paul Richter
•  James Wood (1907). "Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 

Salvatore Ferragamo (June 5, 1898 – August 7, 1960) was an Italian shoe designer. He worked with many Hollywood stars in the 1920s, before returning to Italy to found the eponymous company making unique hand-made footwear. His scientific and creative approach to shoes spawned many innovations such as the wedge heel and cage heel. Film stars and celebrities continue to patronize his company, which has evolved into a luxury goods empire spanning the world.

Biography[link]

Salvatore Ferragamo was born in 1898 in Bonito, near Avellino, the eleventh of 14 children. After making his first pair of shoes at age nine, for his sisters to wear at their confirmation, young Salvatore decided that he had found his calling. He always had a passion for shoes. After studying shoemaking in Naples for a year, Ferragamo opened a small store based in his parent's home. In 1914, he emigrated to Boston, where one of his brothers worked in a cowboy boot factory.

After a brief stint at the factory, Ferragamo convinced his brothers to move to California, first Santa Barbara then Hollywood. It was here that Ferragamo found success, initially opening a shop for repair and made-to-measure shoes, which soon became prized items among celebrities of the day, leading to a long period of designing footwear for the cinema. However, his thriving reputation as 'Shoemaker to the Stars' only partially satisfied him. He could not fathom why his shoes pleased the eye yet hurt the foot, so he proceeded to study anatomy at the University of Southern California.

After spending thirteen years in the United States, Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1927, this time settling in Florence. He began to fashion shoes for the wealthiest and most powerful women of the century, from the Maharani of Cooch Behar to Eva Peron to Marilyn Monroe. He opened a workshop in the Via Mannelli, concentrating his efforts in experimenting with design, applying for patents for ornamental and utility models and some related inventions. Although he filed for bankruptcy in 1933 due to bad management and economic pressures, Ferragamo nonetheless expanded his operation during the 1950 to a workforce of around 700 expert artisans that produced 350 pairs of hand-made shoes a day.

Ferragamo was always recognized as a visionary, and his designs ranged from the strikingly bizarre objet d'art to the traditionally elegant, often serving as the main inspiration to other footwear designers of his time and beyond. Salvatore Ferragamo died in 1960 at the age of 62, but his name lives on as an international company, which has expanded its operations to include luxury shoes, bags, eyewear, silk accessories, watches, perfumes and a ready-to-wear clothing line. At his death his wife Wanda and later their six children (Fiamma, Giovanna, Fulvia, Ferruccio, Massimo and Leonardo) ran the Ferragamo company.

His most famous invention is arguably the "Cage Heel". Fiamma (Salvatore's eldest daughter who died in 1998) inherited her father's inimitable talent and came up with the "Vara pumps" in 1978.

The company is currently owned by the Ferragamo family, which in November 2006 included Salvatore's widow Wanda, five children, 23 grandchildren and other relatives.[3] There is a rule that only 3 members of the family can work at the company, prompting fierce competition.[3] To ease these tensions, in September 2006 the family announced a plan to float 48% of the company on the stock market, and since October 2006 Michele Norsa has served as managing and general director.[2] However, as of January 2008, this plan may be on put on hold in the midst of the downturn in the financial market.[4] If the listing on the stock market proceeds, the fund will be directed primarily towards building its positions in China.[5] The company is holding its 80th birthday exhibition in Shanghai.[1]

Family[link]

• Wanda Ferragamo Miletti: has led the group since 1960, when her husband and founder of the company, Salvatore, died. She is currently Honorary Chairman.
• Ferruccio Ferragamo: he is currently President of the Company.
• Giovanna Gentile Ferragamo: she is currently vice president of Ferragamo Finanziaria SpA.
• Leonardo Ferragamo, since 2000, he has served as CEO of Palazzo Feroni Finanziaria S.p.A, the family’s holding company.
• Massimo Ferragamo: he is Chairman of Ferragamo USA, the Ferragamo company that has handled the brand’s distribution in North America since Fifties.
• Fulvia Visconti Ferragamo: has run the fashion label’s silk accessories division since the Seventies. She is Vice-President of Salvatore Ferragamo SpA.
• Fiamma Ferragamo di San Giuliano: she died in 1998, many still believe her to be an influential figure in the life of the company today. Her passion for her work, her imagination and inventiveness have led to the creation of same of the brand’s most iconic products, such as Vara shoe and the Gancino.

The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum[link]

In 1995 the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, dedicated to footwear and the history of the company, opened in Palazzo Spini Feroni, in Florence. In December 2006 the Museum re-opened in new location in the basement of Palazzo Spini Feroni. The Museum extends over four rooms and comprises a collection of over ten thousand models of shoes created by Ferragamo over forty years, from the Twenties to his death in 1960. The Museum also has a small collection of period shoes (18th and 19th century), a collection of clothing from 1959 onwards, a collection of handbags from 1970, and a huge document archive.

See also[link]

• Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A.

References[link]

• Ricci, Stefania; Glanz Margo, Mercedes Iturbe (2006). Walking Dreams: Salvatore Ferragamo, 1898-1960. 

External links[link]

• Official Site of Salvatore Ferragamo
• Salvatore Ferragamo designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
• Official Site of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

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