20th Century Soles Trivia Quiz

Answer: stiletto

Coco Chanel designed her outfits from top to bottom, including handbags and shoes. She got her start in Paris in the 1920s. Chanel designed the court shoe (called a pump in North America) as a simple shape to complement the simple lines of her suits and dresses.

Her iconic Chanel suit was not designed until 1954. Chanel passed away in 1971 at the age of 87, leaving an indelible legacy in both clothing and shoe design.

Answer: 1920s-1930s

Perugia was a French shoe design innovator, born in Nice, France. He began working with fashion designer Paul Poiret in 1914, just as WWI began. Perugia's open-toed shoes were considered scandalous as a woman's feet were supposed to be covered by her shoes. As hemlines rose after WWI, women's shoes by every shoe designer became even more daring and eye-catching.

Answer: The Ten Commandments

Salvatore Ferragamo opened his first shoe workshop in Bonito, Italy, at age 14. In 1923, Ferragamo designed and manufactured the 12,000 pairs of sandals for the cast of The Ten Commandments in two months! Contracts like this enabled him to become a "shoemaker to the stars" such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson.

In the 1930s he returned to Italy, where he could have greater control over the craftsmanship of his shoes. He first introduced a wedge-heeled fashion shoe in 1938, and Italian women went wild over them.

Answer: Roger Vivier

Vivier modeled the platform soled shoe on an orthopedic shoe shape in the 1930s. He designed the first stilettos for Christian Dior in the early 1950s, to complement Dior's "New Look" postwar fashions. Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian fashion designer, helped popularize Vivier's shoe designs in the 1940s.

Answer: flared heels

John Fluevog had a workshop and retail store in Toronto since 1989. Stars such as Elton John visit in person to have shoes designed when they are in Toronto. Fluevog's shoes usually have rounded or squared toes, and briliant-colored leather, suede or combination uppers. Fluevog, a Vancouver native, opened his first shop in Vancouver in 1970, and has shops there and in New York, Seattle, Toronto, and Montreal.

Answer: Florsheim

Florsheim shoes have been made since 1892, and have been worn by presidents, athletes including Muhammad Ali, and entertainers in every field. Actor Jack Nicholson lost one of his Florsheims when he fell into a reservoir during the filming of the movie "Chinatown", and was apparently more upset by the loss of his shoe than by his broken nose in the scene.

Herbert Levine was a shoe designer of the 1960s and 1970s; Palter was an American shoemaker which began in 1919. and Bally was a venerated European shoe firm. I bought a pair of Bally spectator pumps in 1985, and still wear them today.

Answer: Andrea Pfister

Andrea Pfister, born in 1942, presented his first shoe collection in 1965. He is best-known for the extravagant "birdcage shoe" with a hollow heel and a small wire birdcage built into it. Pfister makes shoes in every heel height from ballet flats, through a short Louis heel, to near-stiletto heights.

His focus is on comfort and elegance. Gucci began his shoe design career in 1921; Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo are best known for their outrageously high stiletto heels.

Answer: Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is better known for her fashion line than for her shoes, but she became notorious after this outrageous shoe incident. She has also designed shoes and fashions with a biker theme, and a shoe called the "Prostitute" with a 7-inch platform sole and a love-heart buckle on the ankle strap.

Answer: Lobb of St. James

It can cost up to $1,600 US for a pair of men's custom-designed, handmade shoes at Lobb of St. James. The Lobb family moved their collection of shoe designs and lasts into a country house outside London during WWII to protect them from bombing raids. Church's is based in Northampton, England and makes ready-to-wear shoes. Doc Marten's made Elton John's boots for the movie "Pinball Wizard." Clarks invented the iconic desert boot for the consumer market in 1948, reintroducing them in the 1960s.

Answer: red soles

Christian Louboutin opened his first shop in 1991, and uses the Pantone red color 18-1663 TPX exclusively for his shoe soles. Danielle Steel is Louboutin's best customer; she owns over 6,000 pairs of shoes, the majority of which are his design. She has been known to buy 80 pairs of shoes at a time at a Louboutin boutique.