It’s hard to find something more classic than Ferragamo’s Vara—the box-toed shoe garnished with a golden plaque and a grosgrain bow. This year, the mid-heeled wares (whose “sister” shoe, the Varina ballet flat, was introduced in 2007) turn 35. And to celebrate the anniversary, the house is launching L’Icona—an online project in collaboration with photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank. The virtual endeavor features Swanson Frank-lensed portraits of twenty-one effortlessly stylish women—Alexandra Richards, Chiara Clemente, and Style.com’s own Marina Larroudé among them—wearing customized Varas or Varinas. “When I was a child, my chic grandmother used to wear Varas in black and brown,” says Larroudé, whose personalized kicks are pictured above. “I wanted a simple black patent shoe, because patent lasts forever, and I wanted to be able to wear mine every day, in the summer or winter, with or without tights.”
Icona.ferragamo.com will launch May 1, and the site will, for the first time, offer women the opportunity to customize their own pair of Varas (or Varinas—whichever you prefer). A video starring the twenty-one trendsetters (and their new shoes) will also screen on the site.
