Toe to Toe With Marilyn Monroe

Dare we say it? Marilyn Monroe is enjoying a swell in her already unmatchable popularity. My Week With Marilyn, Simon Curtis’s week-in-the-life-of that pins Michelle Williams as the smoldering screen queen, is in theaters now. And now, Florentine luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has announced that Monroe will be the subject of an exhibition in Florence’s Museo Salvatore Ferragamo.
 
The highlight of the exhibit will be the collection of 14 pairs of shoes Monroe had bought decades before in Ferragamo’s Park Avenue shop in New York. Ferragamo designed the shoes for the icon himself, including a pair of four-inch stiletto-heeled pumps he created to enhance Monroe’s calves and swaying walk. In 1999, the museum had purchased them from Christie’s for their own collection.
 
Monroe-related fashion and art pieces will also be on display, including costumes from several of Monroe’s movies, the actress’s personal dresses, and contemporary artwork to symbolize the dual nature of the brilliant but troubled star. The exhibition will open to the public in July.