Luxury and artisanship may today go hand-in-hand with tradition and authenticity, but poetry can also be found in the history of the Rossi brand. At the ripe age of 14 years, the young Sergio played hooky to take on the family art: fabricating quality shoes. In 1950, the new designer took the reigns of his parents’ small enterprise and undertook a passionate campaign of expansion. Inspired by the work of Helmut Newton, where curvy elongated legs and arches were emphasized, Sergio Rossi designed high-heeled female shoes. Success wasn’t far behind: in 1959, the designer’s signature appeared on the feet of the lovely Anita Ekberg in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. On his way towards recognition throughout Europe, the master shoemaker wound his way through Italy, from Milan to Bologna, where he opened his first boutique in 1966. His first winters, minute and inventive, bore sandals that would quickly sell out on the beaches of Rimini and in his Bolognese boutiques. The 70s and 80s finally marked the crowning point of his work: through contributions with big names in haute couture like Versace, Azzédine Alaïa, Dolce & Gabbana, and Yves Saint-Laurent, Sergio Rossi ended up providing shoes to the crème de la crème of red carpets everywhere. Sharon Stone, Teri Hatcher, and Denise Richards are today joined by actresses like Eva Longoria and Zooey Deschanel.
Hot on the heels of this lightning success, the aesthetic and comfort of Rossi’s shoes was bought up by the Gucci group in 1999. With a global expansion thanks to 79 points of sale around the world, the Rossi brand has never ceased to grow. This success reached new heights in 2008 when the Italian label took on designer Francesco Russo as their new creative director. With a long history at Miu Miu and Costume National, he is notably the man behind the famous Tribute sandals by Saint-Laurent. Desiring to “be part of a woman’s body without ever covering it up”, the designer launched a shoe that would become the brand’s emblem for the marriage of Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault, director of Kering (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute). He thus decided to release a particular style of open-toed shoe that would prove to be extremely desirable. Able to speak French but not write it, the designer wanted to name this piece “Caché” (or “hidden”) in reference to the tiny slit that lets the tip of the foot peek through. Unfortunately, the brand’s marketing team interpreted as being the homonymous “Cachet”; the rest is history. “C’est la vie!” said Russo upon discovering this little surprise, which nevertheless is not enough to cancel out the sexy side of his creation.
Cachet, perched high on its 13.5 cm heel, brings us into a vertiginous realm that elongates the female silhouette towards incredible heights. A “curved and sharp” silhouette, just like the designer wanted it, it’s available in several styles with various colors and fastenings. With a massive 3.5 centimeter platform lightened by a finely curved heel, Cachet is undeniably “a product that was very well received”, and continues to be so today. Different from other similar peep-toe styles, Cachet keeps you guessing with its almond-shaped slit that delicately allows the tip of the wearer’s foot to peek out. While it may seem difficult for amateurs to walk around with these gems of shoemaking, Francesco Russo maintains his mantra for strutting down the sidewalk with the elegance of a Queen: “Just practice. Practice, practice, practice.” Comfort, another of the Rossi brand’s favorite words, is always backed up by quality. Indeed, no less than 120 different steps are necessary to create these products before they reach their points of sale in far-flung destinations like New York, Wakiki, Costa Mesa, Beverly Hills, Paris, and Dubai. In 2011, the Cachet got a makeover through an iconic capsule collection. With a bit of expert metalworking, the shoe, made of exotic crocodile leather, got an addition of 22-carat gold leaves and antique silver. Minutely worked with a savoir-faire worthy of sculpture or framing a painting, these luxurious marvels were only made to order, pushing the limits of dreaming even further.
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