Salvatore Ferragamo, invention of the wedge heel and design patent, 1938
Salvatore Ferragamo, sandals for the Maharani, 1938.
One of Ferragamo’s most famous customers in the late 1930’s was Indira Devi, the Maharani of Cooch Behar. The princess ordered even a hundred pair of shoes at a time, some of them adorned with real pearls and diamonds. In 1938 Salvatore Ferragamo created sandals for her with uppers composed of bands of kid and satin sewn together, a cork wedge (his latest invention) covered in velvet and embossed brass structure embedded with precious gems – rubies, emeralds, diamonds and other stones – that the Maharani had sent from India.
Sandal with crocheted raffia and cork wedge heel, 1942
Design is fine. History is mine. 