Haute chaussure: demystification

Freud once noticed that sometimes a dream is just a dream. So Raymond Massaro, the chief shoe maker of the Great Mademoiselle, believed that shoes are not luxury, but a means of transportation. However, the idea of ​​luxury is different for everyone. For some, luxury is a million dollar shoes. For someone - an extra minute of rest. In 1854, when the Massaro shoe shop appeared in Paris, Napoleon’s summer palace in Biarritz became a symbol of luxury. In any case, in every luxury story there is a piece of legend. And in every legend - a piece of history.

Raymond Massaro once wanted to study history, but became a shoe maker. And he does not regret it at all, because he sewed not only ordinary, but also historical shoes. He reproduced the shoes of Napoleon and other royals.

In September, when Mr. Massaro arrived at the MosShoes exhibition, he recalled: “There are several great women in fashion who have made fashion history ... I had the honor to work and be acquainted with a great woman whom you all, of course, know - that’s Coco Chanel. I was incredibly lucky in life that I had the pleasure of working with her. This is an undeniably outstanding woman. She did not fit into the framework of the norms adopted at that time. And it was not so easy to work with her. ”

Indeed, Coco Chanel could send her courier for Massaro, tear him from meeting with the client for the sake of fitting for her fashion model, and when he arrived, it turned out that the fashion model was not in place. Once she called Massaro and asked to urgently sew her boots - it was in August, and she knew very well that Massaro was going on vacation the next day. Fortunately, the master had in stock one pair, exactly matching the size of Chanel.

However, Massaro could always justify her with her own words: “A woman these days should be at the forefront of fashion trends, she gained independence ...” And Chanel, and she was very tall, under two meters tall, always added to these words: “ But a woman without a man - who needs it? ”

Although in her case, rather, she exerted influence on men. “Of all the famous personalities that I had to deal with, Coco Chanel, perhaps, had the greatest influence on me, left the most significant mark in my creative biography,” says Raymond Massaro. “She was a fanatic of her business.”

Director of the MosShoes exhibition and collector of antique shoes Nazim Mustafayev divides all the designers into two categories: simple decorators and people who work with the structure. Massaro, he refers to the latter.

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“Form is the most important element. It gives you an idea of ​​style, of the result as a whole. This is the foundation of the basics of the profession. As in mathematics - if the formula is not perfect, the problem is not solved. You will not begin to wear uncomfortable shoes, so you need to create the perfect shoe. We must be able to take measurements, take into account all the features of the foot, and make a masterpiece of all this. Creating shoes is not an easy task in which there are many components, ”Massaro himself says. - It is necessary to combine several professions at the same time. I did absolutely everything in my workshop: I was both a designer and a craftsman ... Moreover, in this profession there is another important nuance that has been lost today - uniqueness; once you knew that your couple will continue to exist in one instance and the second one may not be there anymore. Now everything is replicated. In general, the shoemaker is a profession that is disappearing today in France, which, of course, is regrettable. But I can only state it. ”

But in Russia, the work of French designers are interested in a long time and seriously. Arriving for the first time in Moscow, Massaro was surprised that his family is so well known here.

“I was born into a family of shoe makers. My grandfather was a shoe maker, his sons were shoe makers. I was ready to do anything but shoes. But contrary to my desire, I still got carried away by the family business. This happened thanks to my father. He was an amazing person, a true professional. In the end, I began to understand why my father stayed in the studio in the evenings, why he considered his work to be a service to women. Mom, of course, was not enthusiastic about this. And in the end I became an even greater workaholic than my father. And the next time I come to Moscow, ”the maestro tells about his plans,“ and I will definitely come again, once a little, I will bring a book where there is a complete list of all the distinguished persons who ordered shoes from my grandfather. I note that he wore almost the entire Russian high society, probably, until the very beginning of the First World War, until the 1914 of the year. I did not know him, and of these people, too, I know almost no one. But this is part of the history of our workshop. ”

They say that only culture can instill a taste for noble luxury. Perhaps the maestro’s next visit will be just such a vaccine. And good shoes in stores will be added.