Word: fiamma
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What is Sophia Loren, 41, doing in yet another B flick? Now the Fiamma Napoletana is making Cassandra Crossing, a sci-fi thriller produced by Husband Carlo Ponti and co-starring Richard Harris, 42. In the movie, about a train that is supposedly germ-infested and is being shuttled around Europe with 1,000 passengers on board, Loren and Harris play a love-hating couple. "This role is basically ironic . . . it pleases me because I believe it is within my nature," says Sophia. That is not necessarily intended to be a comment on her 19-year marriage to Carlo, however...
Unlike Calzaturificio of Varese, the largest shoemaker in Italy's domestic market, Fiamma turns out most of her shoes for foreign feet. Eldest child of the founder of Ferragamo of Florence, she took over her present position when her father died in 1960, despite the fact that she was only 18. Her youthfulness has hardly been a handicap. From 76,000 pairs in 1960, Ferragamo has increased its annual production to 130,000 pairs, of which 70% are sold abroad. By far the biggest market is the U.S., where fashion-conscious women spend $22 for simple suede knock abouts...
Previous Existence. Ferragamo owes its growth to Fiamma's success in preserving her father's emphasis on restrained elegance and comfort. A farmer's son who did not have a pair of his own until he was ten, Salvatore Ferragamo made up for that deprivation with an uncommon love of shoes, and insisted that he had been a shoemaker "in some previous existence upon this earth." Ferragamo opened his own cobbler's shop at eleven and migrated three years later to the U.S., where he took anatomy courses at the University of Southern California...
...Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn. When he died, his family took over the business in the best Italian tradition. Today his widow nominally serves as president, while a son, Ferruccio, 23, is commercial director and heir apparent. But because the firm's emphasis is on style, Designer Fiamma is its driving force...
13th Century Palazzo. Ensconced last week in Ferragamo's headquarters in a 13th century palazzo, Fiamma was busily preparing her new fall line, which she plans to bring to New York early next month. Although she promises "something new and revolutionary in heels," the fall collection is sure to have the distinctive Ferragamo touch, which means that the shoes will be smart, plain-lined and, except for a few styles, made by hand. Says Fiamma: "Simply designed shoes are the hardest to make, but they sell best and always look stylish...