Salvatore Ferragamo Perfume for Women

Finding his calling at the age of nine in 1907, Salvatore Ferragamo apprenticed to a shoemaker in his native Naples, Italy for a period of one year before opening a small workshop in the home of his parents. Immigrating to Boston, Massachusetts in 1914, Ferragamo worked with his brother in a factory that produced cowboy boots for a time before convincing him to journey with him to seek their fortune first in Santa Barbara, and then Hollywood, California. Ferragamo eventually opened a small shop to repair and make made-to-measure shoes which soon became all the rage among the celebrity set. His popularity soon led to a long stint of designing footwear for the cinema which led him to become known as the “Shoemaker to the Stars”.

Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1927 and settled in Florence where he began to design shoes for the most powerful and wealthy women of the time such as Indira of Baroda, Eva Peron and Marilyn Monroe. Though he was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1933 his business flourished after World War II and by the 1950s Ferragamo employed a workforce of over 700 artisans which produced over 350 pairs of handmade shoes per day.