Take a look at the legend of fashion industry-Salvatore Ferragamo. He was always recognized as a visionary, and his designs ranged from the strikingly bizarre objet d'art to the traditionally elegant, often serving as the main inspiration to other footwear designers of his time and beyond. Salvatore Ferragamo died in 1960 at the age of 62, but his name lives on as an international company, which has expanded its operations to include luxury shoes, bags, eyewear, silk accessories, hangtags, watches, perfumes and a ready-to-wear clothing line.

Ferragamo was born in 1898 in Bonito, near Avellino, the eleventh of 14 children. After making his first pair of shoes at age nine, for his sisters to wear at their confirmation, young Salvatore decided that he had found his calling. He always had a passion for shoes with hangtags. After studying shoemaking in Naples for a year, Ferragamo opened a small store based in his parent's home. In 1914, he emigrated to Boston, where one of his brothers worked in a cowboy boot factory. After a brief stint at the factory, Ferragamo convinced his brothers to move to California, first Santa Barbara then Hollywood.

It was here that Ferragamo found success, initially opening a shop for repair and made-to-measure shoes and hangtags, which soon became prized items among celebrities of the day, leading to a long period of designing footwear. His thriving reputation as 'Shoemaker to the Stars' only partially satisfied him. After spending thirteen years in the United States, Ferragamo returned to Italy in 1927, this time settling in Florence. He began to fashion shoes for the wealthiest and most powerful women of the century, from the Maharani of Cooch Behar to Eva Peron. He opened a workshop then, concentrating his efforts in experimenting with design, applying for patents for ornamental and utility models and some related inventions.