André Perugia

André Perugia
Born1893
DiedNovember 1977 (aged 83 or 84)
Cannes, France
OccupationShoe designer

André Perugia (31 December 1893 - 1977) was a French shoe designer regarded as one of the pioneers of twentieth-century footwear design. Active from the 1910s to the 1970s, he was known for technically innovative and sculptural shoes, and for collaborations with major couturiers such as Paul Poiret and Elsa Schiaparelli.[1][2]

Early life and career

Perugia was born in Nice, France in 1893 of Italian parentage. He trained in his father's workshop and at the age of 16, in 1909, he opened a shop in Paris where he sold handmade shoes. He worked with designers including Paul Poiret, I. Miller,[3] Charles Jourdan, Jacques Fath, Callot Soeurs and Hubert de Givenchy.

He wrote a book From Eve to Rita Hayworth in which he said that the way to unveil a woman's personality was to study her feet. Always eager to experiment with new materials, shapes, and textures, Perugia continued to create shoes of startling originality throughout a 50-year association with I. Miller and then with Charles Jourdan.[4]

References

  1. ^ "André Perugia (French, 1893–1977)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  2. ^ "André Perugia: Early 20th-century Footwear Designer". Bata Shoe Museum.
  3. ^ Finamore, Michelle Tolini (2022-10-10). Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour. University of Arkansas Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-68226-217-7.
  4. ^ "Shoe Icons". Perugia Andre. Retrieved 2019-04-23.