Fifi Venezia offers Venetian velvet shoes closer to home
When Kim Fox went to Venice 20 years ago, she found inspiration on the ground: slippers.
Venetian velvet slippers were worn by locals in a variety of colors like red, gray, black and blue.
Fast forward two decades, and Fox has adapted the memory to a present shoe company she operates with friend Lynn Pyle.
The Newport Beach residents, who were sorority sisters at USC and who have remained friends since 1982, founded Fifi Venezia — a handmade velvet slide constructed by Italian craftsmen in Venice.
The company, named after Fox’s sophisticated and cultured grandmother, started less than a year ago and is stocked at a handful of retailers, such as A’Maree’s, Juxtaposition Home and shops in Los Angeles, Vermont and Japan.
There’s a story behind the founders’ shoes that starts long before they pop up in a photo on a luxury designer or indie singer’s Instagram.
Legend has it that when Venice was liberated in 1945, a young woman stepped from her gondola, rushed toward the palatial Palazzo Dandolo and dashed up the 14th century staircase.
There, she stumbled by a window overlooking the Grand Canal.
Her velvet slippers fell from her feet, falling toward a marble column at the base of the stairs.
The traditional velvet slipper worn by Venetians rose to prominence after World War II, but its history goes back a longer way.
During the 19th century, the Italian countryside struggled and women crafted a special shoe from recycled materials.
The shoes reached Venice, where gondoliers favored the footwear, as the soles gripped with a non-damaging stability and didn’t skid while gondoliers rowed boats.
Since the shoes’ origins, the footwear has been made out of canvas juke sacks and cardboard.
They are completed by welding bicycle tires on the bottoms to make them waterproof, and the uppers of velvet are assembled and sewn with a blanket stitch — a symbol of fine tradition.
“We loved the history, the art and that it’s handmade,” Fox said as she stood next to Pyle before a display of the slip-ons in A’Maree’s in Newport Beach. “We wanted to bring that story and authenticity here.”
The Canal shoe, priced at $235, is offered in nine colors, including red, yellow, orange and green.
Fuchsia and violet are carried in the line’s Canal and Gritti style ($250), a cotton velvet loafer with rubber soles.
Fox and Pyle said they sell out of a shipment of 250 pairs in two weeks.
Women usually wear them around the home, then to barre or spin classes or at a casual lunch, they said.
It’s a favorite shoe to wear around town because it not only offers a pop of color but also a point that helps elongate the leg, they added.
The velvet slipper is true to size, and if it needs a cleaning, it can be thrown into the washer on a cold spin. If the pair appears crushed, the dryer will fluff them up.
The shoes may be monogrammed, and the company can add embellishments. They have men asking for pairs to wear around the house or aboard a boat.
Fox and Pyle said they order a shipment of 250 shoes from the Venetian manufacturer, and it usually takes about a month for the slippers to arrive to the U.S.
They have plans to add a lighter red to the shoe’s color assortment and are in the process of regularly cycling out the demand for customer orders.
The slippers have been snapped up by Brock Collection luxury designer Laura Vassar, indie singer and songwriter Zella Day and Vogue magazine fashion assistant Cynthia Smith.
“We are so proud to share this history with people here,” Fox said. “You’re joining a club of old-world craftsmanship. To me, that’s incredible.”
For more information, visit fifivenezia.com.
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
