The Errant Æsthete

If you’ve always wanted to walk in the shoes of, say, Audrey Hepburn — now’s your chance.

Salvatore Ferragamo is, for the first time, re-creating and selling in the U.S. the shoes made for these stars. The designs in the limited-edition Ferragamo Creations collection come straight from the company’s archives, using the original models, forms and types of leather. Among those available at the brand’s flagship store in Manhattan are the red 4-inch stiletto heels that Marilyn Monroe wore in “Some Like It Hot,” a gold-tile mosaic platform shoe worn by Carmen Miranda, a silver platform sandal created for Eva Peron and those wonderful round-toe ballet slippers designed for Audrey Hepburn.

The patriarch of the brand, the late Salvatore Ferragamo, who died in 1960, also worked with Audrey Hepburn many times, and the round-toe ballet slipper he made for her is also part of Creations. The timing couldn’t be better: That particular shoe fits in with today’s fashion trends as well as it did in 1959.

Each new product will come with a certificate of authenticity describing its story and features. When the limited number of each product is sold out, the design will return to the archive. However, other designs will be plucked from the archives and added to the collection twice a year.

A section of the Fifth Avenue store has been renovated to resemble a shoemaker’s showroom in the 1950s. Historic photographs of the designer and the women who inspired his work hang on the wall. The Creations concept previously had been offered in Paris, Tokyo, Beijing and at Ferragamo headquarters in Florence, Italy. [Link]