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Shoes are very emotional. For women, they carry the message that you want to give to the world. One day you want to be sexy, or super powerful at your job - you wear a great pump. If you want to be on-the-go and running after your kids - you wear a great flat.
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I was lucky that I started very young, since I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do. But my father is very conservative, and he never considered fashion to be a real career but something I could pursue as a hobby. He wanted me to be a doctor, and at one point, I thought of becoming a plastic surgeon.
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Whenever I went to a wedding or a party, girls kept complaining about their shoes. I love to dance, and I wanted them to have shoes they could keep on all night.
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I went to department stores, and there was nothing that I really loved. All the shoes were too complicated, too crazy, too ridiculous, too extreme. The platforms were so high; the shoes were so ugly, covered in crystals and feathers and crap. I just thought, 'Maybe somebody wants a beautifully simple, sexy shoe that they can actually walk in.'
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The shoes and the eyes are windows to a woman's spirit.
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No one needs anything; they have to want it.
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I've always wanted to create shoes that were positive and happy.
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I've had many ideas come from clients.
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Sometimes you design a shoe, and you think this one is a winner, but you never know when something will be such a crazy phenomenon.
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For me, it's important that I can talk to my customers all over the world. They can comment on what they like, tell me what fits - we have a daily dialogue. I can also see what she looks like and how she wears my shoes, which is a huge advantage. Thank God for Instagram; it helps me keep connected.
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I want to make shoes that a woman can walk in. That's kind of what they're made for.
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When I started out, the idea of comfort in shoes was almost a dirty word.
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When people take advantage of you and make a business out of it, that's not nice.
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No one wears high heels all day, every day.
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I got a New York designer to build my dream store here, which is a little bit of Florence in New York. It's like the Duomo on Madison. I got inspired by Santa Maria Novella and all the Renaissance architecture.
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We do high heels, and people know us for that, but the idea of wearing a flat from day to night feels special.
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I personally approve all the shoes that go into production, and I have a level of involvement with the factories that other people don't have.
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Up until the 1960s, women would meet designers in their private ateliers, and together they would build a relationship and a wardrobe. Then, all of a sudden, designers disappeared into their own private bubble, and there was no communication.
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I want to know who my client is. I see her on Instagram, but it's another thing to get to chat with her.
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I have so much fun because I love to meet the women who wear my shoes and meet the clients. That, to me, is the best part - getting to know the faces of the people who actually wear my shoes and getting to have a conversation with them.
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I love to see a woman in a sexy, strappy sandal no matter what. It just looks beautiful.
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My retail partners, they are my brand ambassadors. They're the ones who are selling the shoes to women.
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Florence is charming, cozy, beautiful, inspiring - it has so many great places to go to and so many unique things to see that you won't find anywhere else!
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Even though my shoes are different from Ferragamo's aesthetic, which is more classic, I learned the importance of fit and quality. We were making shoes like they used to, by hand, and I carried that with me.