André Perugia: A Design Legend Unveiled

October 2025 to April 2027
 

The Bata Shoe Museum explores the work of one of the most significant and under-researched footwear designers of the 20th century, André Perugia. A pioneering Italian-French shoe designer, André Perugia (1893-1977) is known for his architecturally innovative and technically masterful footwear designs. From his first boutique in Nice in the early 1920s, he revolutionized luxury footwear, creating shoes for fashion houses like Dior and Schiaparelli, as well as for celebrity clients including Josephine Baker, Mistinguette, and Princess Lillian of Belgium. His work is preserved in major museum collections worldwide.

Throughout the run of the exhibit, over 95 examples of the designer’s work dating from the 1920s through the 1960s, will be featured; shoes from contemporary designers inspired by his vision will also be on display. This exhibition will highlight the historical importance of Perugia’s work, contextualizing it within the larger framework of fashion across the decades. It will explore some of his most important innovations, including Perugia’s contribution to the development of the articulated sole and the stiletto heel.

André Perugia is curated by Nishi Bassi and includes objects from the BSM collection, and generous loans from Musée de la chaussure Romans-sur-Isère and Fondation Azzedine Alaia.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Rhinestone Shoe In the early 1920s, André Perugia did something that no shoemaker had done before; he designed women’s evening shoes with uppers made entirely of glittering rhinestones. Newspapers and fashion magazines showered him with praise for this achievement, with one journalist writing, “Perugia has achieved the height of fantastic good taste” with these shoes. This brilliant, jewel-like pair, which likely dates from the mid to late 1920s, is representative of how Perugia approached design throughout his career: with inventiveness and luxury in mind.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure Mask Shoe Perugia’s ‘mask’ shoe is one of his most recognizable, and often copied, designs. He first released this model in 1923, and then returned to this design multiple times throughout his career. Inspired by Venetian masks, this mule is representative of the novelty and playfulness that Perugia would increasingly engage with as his career progressed. This example is made of bronzed lizard skin and features gilded heels.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure Embroidered Gold This pair of shoes features vivid turquoise and red embroidery. Against the shiny gold leather of the upper, the shoes are reminiscent of ancient Egyptian material culture, which inspired many designers during the 1920s. What makes this pair of sandals particularly unique is the thin turquoise bands at the base of both heels; this was a special feature of many of Perugia’s designs from this decade. It was often Perugia’s special attention to detail that set his work apart from that of his contemporaries.
Collection of Bata Shoe Museum Red Mule In the 1950s, Perugia designed footwear that had the visible outline or impression of the wearer’s toes. There are examples of historic French and Dutch clogs which feature carved feet in them, but Perugia was the first luxury footwear designer to make trompe l’oeil toes fashionable. This motif is one of Perugia’s most imitated, and may have inspired footwear by Vivienne Westwood, Jeffrey Campbell, and Schiaparelli in recent years.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure Blade Heel In 1951, Perugia revolutionized footwear design by creating sandals with steel shanks, and thin steel heels, which Harper’s Bazaar described as looking “like diamond needles.” They were unlike any other shoe produced in the 1950s and were celebrated by Vogue as “the most spectacular shoe idea.” The technology and innovation used to create the “the blade heel” set the stage for the development of the stiletto later in the decade.
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure Gold Boot Throughout his career, Perugia produced footwear for notable fashion houses including Dior, Givenchy, and Paquin. Arguably, his most creative partnership was with surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Through his work with Schiaparelli, Perugia played with form and height, creating glamorous wedges, platform heels, wrap around sandals, and ankle boots. This shiny gold boot from the late 1930s is both modern and historical. The button closures reference 19th century women’s footwear, and the scalloped topline adds a more contemporary art deco twist. Perugia once remarked that his work with Schiaparelli “inspired some of his most successful ideas.”
Collection of Musée de la Chaussure

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BSM programming events have been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.