WHO THE F*CK IS ANDRÉ PERUGIA?
The man who walked, so Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin could strut.
André Perugia was not a name I was familiar with until I was in the midst of working on a passion piece about the origins of Christian Louboutin. In my research I stumbled upon an article titled, “Forget Louboutin, Step into the World of André Perugia, the True Icon behind Modern Shoe Design”….to which I asked myself, who the fuck is André Perguia?
Little did I know that André Perugia is considered to be one of the most brilliant minded shoe designers of all time. Getting his start in a French backstreet workshop in 1909 and later going on to have a lifelong contract with I. Miller. He used his inherent talents and obsession for feet (I’m serious) to push the boundaries in female shoe design. An excerpt from his book, ‘From Eve to Rita Hayworth’, famously claims that the way to unveil a woman’s personality was to study her feet. If only he could tell me what my flat foot and gnarly petite pinky toe said about me.
Perugia’s craft was deeply personal, he was often known to talk to his shoes. One could question if this was a creative obsession or a fetish, but one thing for certain is these emotions translated through the beauty of his work. Never not exploring the limits of where form meets function. His personal adoration for the physicality of the female foot pushed him to conceptualize newfound ways to hold the foot. Whether it be to cover, decorate or expose.
Though his designs rose to popularity in the 1920's and 1930's, his pieces stylistically were long ahead of their time and would go on to influence the designs of Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo to name a few.
While it is not exactly known who invented the stiletto, André Perugia was an early pioneer with his "fetish shoes". His most notable design being the “needle heel”, a four inch tall and “mind-bending thin heel with a subtle swooping shape” that would go on to be reinterpreted for decades to come. Take for instance the below Ferragamo heels from this seasons S/S runway, a subtle nod to the brilliance of Perugia.
The original intention behind the design of the stiletto heel was to give the foot a feminine, delicate and elongated appearance. Making the silhouette one of the most influential sex symbols of all time. Dressing the feet of iconic silver screen and cabaret stars like Josephine Baker, Gloria Swanson, and Mistinguette. Perugia himself once stated that: “Every woman is not only conscious of her feet, but sex-conscious of them.” He would have had a field day on footfinder.
The stiletto had a way of stimulating all of the senses. Visually narrow and harrowingly high with a sharp lever underneath, telling you everything you need to know about the woman who wears them. Her impracticalities are her strengths and she doesn’t conform to whats functional, instead she assigns value to how her shoes make her feel…which is sexy. The style adds a sensual sway to her step, accompanied with an irresistible clicking sound that lets her presence be known and draws you to look her way. A powerful stance of dominance in stark contrast to the commonly worn submissive flats.
At his core, Perugia was an artist as his shoes were sculptural and meticulously made. Having historically worked in an aircraft factory during First World War, he would go on to say “A pair of shoes must be perfect as an equation and adjusted down to the last millimeter, like a piece of engine”.
He developed silhouettes that honored fellow artists and lended his vision to other likeminded designers to explore the limits of his eye. Working alongside many notable fashion designers such as Givenchy, Elsa Schiaparelli, Pierre Cardin, and Christian Dior.
One of his most popular styles was “The Disappearing Pump” in collaboration with Givenchy in 1955. Appreciated due to the silhouettes ability to give the foot a slimmer yet graceful appearance, “Some call it ‘vanishing vamp’, because the throat line vanishes into deeply cleft sides which make even the rest of the shoe invisible when seen head on.”, noted Berta Mohr in The Herald Statesman reports in 1955.
In 1950, he made a shoe highlighting the work of Picasso. The shoe featured a floating sandal design with outlined toes that would later inspire a remake by Saint Laurent.
Perugia’s piscine pump, made of overlaid decorative leather scales, is a tribute to French cubist artist George Braque.
His most groundbreaking creation arrived in 1956 when he invented The Changeable heel. A suede cocktail pump with a metal track on the bottom, making the heel of the shoe interchangeable and offering a variety of options: leather, suede, rhinestones, jet-encrusted, gold and silver.
Though not a current household name, Perugia’s creations remain unforgotten as his pieces currently survive in museums around the world. A true founding father of shoes. The rest of his collection lives within the walls of shoe company Charles Jourdan (who he was a consultant for in the sixties), and if you’re wondering… yes they are at the top of my rob list.
