DRAWING ON THE PAST T ANDREW, ABOVE, HAS UPDATED FERRAGAMO WHILE STAYING TRUE TO ITS HERITAGE. RIGHT: A POSTER FROM THE 1930S BY ARTIST LUCIO VENNA.
G FORCE THE ICONIC GANCIO MOTIF— NOW GILDED—IS USED TO ADORN A SATIN SANDAL, $895; SELECT SALVATORE FERRAGAMO BOUTIQUES.
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of the RKO back lot—the 1938 gold leather sandals resting on sky-high rainbow wedges, for instance, or the 1947 Invisible sandal, whose barely seen threads strapped the foot to a gold metallic kid-leather heel—Andrew’s observation would seem to run counter to everything Ferragamo stood for. Not so, he says: “Salvatore moved to America in 1914, then studied anatomy in California so that he could create the most comfortable and the most fabulous shoes.” When you try on some of Andrew’s new designs (which, oftentimes, riff ff on the old), you’ll find that he has succeeded in ticking both the former and latter boxes. There’s his update on the curvaceous 1940s F wedge, rendered as an ankle-strap pum mp or bootie in rose velvet or violet suede (mollding those materials onto the heel, by the way, ttakes two labor-intensive days). The classic 1978 Vara bow pump now rests on a golden striated d columnar heel galvanized in a car factory. Ass for the Gancio—that iconic metal G-like motif—it punctua ates the crisscrossing of multistrapped satin sandals in dusky y pink or cobalt. Each of them has had its cconstruction reconfigured—a different ff set of proportions for the instep, arch, and across the toes; memory foam, for the firrst time, in every shoe. “People are much more involved in sp ports today, so their feet have changed,” Andrew says, addin ng with both a laugh and a hint of grimace: “The natural collag gen of our feet is about half of what it used to be, which is why y I had to add the cushioning.” (To underscore how the perfo ormative qualities of athletic shoes run our lives now, he has also created a tech-knit sneaker, as well as an ankle boot thaat comes with either a mid- or higher heel. Both look equallyy comfortable—and cool—but as to whether you could sprintt in them, who can say?) Andrew, who continues to work w on his own collection from his base in New York, his hom me for eighteen years, has had plenty of time to consider thee house on his frequent flits to and from Florence (he makes th he trip at least a couple of times a month, sometimes more). “IIt’s unique not only because of its design landscape, but becaause inside, Ferragamo is only Ferragamo; it’s family-owned d,” he says, though the family has given Andrew carta bianca a to do whatever he wants—and provided him with the artisanall know-how to make it happen. Andrew possesses a pretern naturally calm demeanor and had already been visiting Itaaly a lot to produce his own label, so he and his long-term m boyfriend are used to the schedule—but the more con nstant to-ing and fro-ing has meant getting into a new rhyythm of life. What has helped has been the distractions Flo orence and its environs have been able to provide: trips to o look at the Botticellis in the Uffizi Gallery (some of the p paintings’ pink tones made it into the collection); spending g the weekend at the eleventhcentury Castel Monastero neeear Siena; or rolling up for dinner at the restaurant Fuor d d’Acqua, where, says Andrew, “I don’t even look at the m menu—they just bring out this amazing branzino cookeeed in salt.” In more ways than one, it seems, he’s gettting t his feet under the table in Florence.—MARK HO OLGATE O TA L K I N G FA S H I O N >1 5 6 VOGUE.COM
AN DR EW: CLE ME N T PASCA L. G RO O MI N G, LAU RA D E L EO N . P OST E R: SA LVATO RE FER RAGAMO. STILL LIFE: STUART TYSON.
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