Special Roger Vivier “treasures” to go on show in Waalwijk
13/01/2015
Part of the exhibition, entitled Shoe Treasures - Roger Vivier, will be designs he created for Christian Dior,
Roger Vivier made shoes for Dior for a decade, between 1953 and 1963. Commentators say that the fact that, unusually, both names appeared on the shoes is proof of the esteem in which Christian Dior held the footwear designer.
Shoes and boots he made during this period for Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot are among his most famuous.
The exhibition will also include material from the 1930s, when Roger Vivier caused a sensation in the North American shoe market as a designer for New York-based manufacturers Miller and Delman. All Vivier's creations in those years were commissioned by Laboremus, a subsidiary of the German Heyl'sche Lederwerke leather factory in Worms-Liebenau. At that time Laboremus’ headquarters were located on the Place Vendôme in Paris, just a few steps away from the famous Ritz Hotel.
Until recently, hardly any research had been done into Vivier’s creations from this period but, thanks to an observant member of the staff in the German Leather Museum in Offenbach, which houses the German Shoe Museum, hidden treasure has come to light: 40 prototypes that Roger Vivier made himself in the 1930s.
Highlights include four pairs of court shoes especially made for Marlene Dietrich.
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