STYLE : FASHION : Shoe Biz

As shoemaker to the stars, Salvatore Ferragamo knew that shoes send messages. For “The Seven Year Itch,” the Italian master devised strappy, stiletto heels for Marilyn Monroe that are essential to the moment when her skirt billows above a subway grate. As bare as Monroe’s legs, the shoes cant her body at an angle so provocative that it would make Dr. Ruth blush. If these shoes could talk, they would whisper a throaty “Take me.”

Almost 200 of Ferragamo’s eloquent shoes go on display next Sunday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ferragamo, who died in 1960, was an artist whose chosen metier was the shoe, and this exhibit illustrates his dazzling range--brocade boots, shimmering sandals, slippers so delicate that they almost disappear and wedges so architectural that they seem to have been built by a general contractor.

Ferragamo came to America in 1914 when he was a teen-age shoemaker, settling in Santa Barbara. He studied anatomy, chemical engineering and mathematics--the last invaluable for solving problems of weight distribution. As a result, his shoes were comfortable as well as beautiful. Top movie stars--Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo and Rudolph Valentino--sought out his Hollywood Boot Shop. Then, in 1927, Ferragamo returned to Italy, establishing in Florence the firm that continues to make elegant shoes.

“Salvatore Ferragamo: The Art of the Shoe (1927-1960)” includes many--but not all--of the designer’s creations. Missing are his first pair of shoes, made when he was 9 for his sister so that she wouldn’t have to wear her shabby everyday clogs to her First Communion. Even then, Ferragamo understood. Sometimes the message shoes send is pride.