IN MEMORY OF WANDA FERRAGAMO 1921-2018

I can’t recall when I first met Wanda Ferragamo. I was studying abroad, but there’s a lovely photo of me with my father and her at Palazzo Spini Feroni in Florence. I must have been 20. I was more familiar with her children, but when my father died (in 1992, ed.), she supported me with simplicity and strength as I got back into my work.Who knows how she found time for me… “I just need five minutes to see what’s not right,” she used to say. She had lots of amazing qualities, but the one that made her a great leader was her ability to weigh people up. She could sense when someone had what it takes, and she got the best out of them. Her daughter Fiamma made a pair of shoes when she was still a girl, because Wanda had faith in her and encouraged her to come up with the right product… She was also passionate about Salvatore and the job he left her. So when he died, she learned. For example, she learned to love manual work. In the 1990s she always went to a craft workshop in Signa. The product was the most important thing. She overcame boundaries and horizons with her inquisitive and attentive nature. She always listened to other people’s opinions, but she had the courage of her convictions. After all, she transformed a company that just made (splendid) shoes into a global luxury brand. After Salvatore’s death in 1960, she managed it like an entrepreneur, a woman in a world filled with men, surrounding herself with competent people and trusting her instincts. For example, she saw the potential of the American market and department stores, which proved to be effective merchandisers for us Italians. I imagine it was thanks to her intuition and America’s buoyant market – not to mention her children around the world gathering new inputs – that she had a clear idea of where the business was going. And she knew that expanding it was the right thing to do. One example is the foundation of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in 1995, which was her way of honouring the past, and the future.