Room of the Givenchy collection, Footwear Museum of Villa Foscarini Rossi

The Museum displays over 1500 examples of luxury women’s shoes, dating from 1947 to the present day. The models were designed and produced by Rossimoda for the most prestigious international designers. A precious collection of nineteenth century Venetian footwear is also on show. The exhibition traces the progress of the company over the years, testifying to the local skills and knowledge of the Riviera del Brenta shoemaking district.

The Givenchy collection
Produced from 1973 to 1988, again from 2001 and still in production.

The brand was created by the French designer Hubert de Givenchy (born in 1927). He became famous for his style characterized by simplicity, rigorous grace, always combined with a bit of imagination and eccentricity.

Casual chic, aristocratic elegance and femininity all combine in the timeless world of Givenchy. Its style is the signature of Hubert de Givenchy, who established his own haute couture House at the beginning of the 1950s. Combining finesse, discretion and elegance, he ensured his designs and ateliers rose to the top and played a key role in international fashion.

Hubert de Givenchy was an ambitious visionary and just 24 years old when he founded his House. He was able to predict the casual chic and democratization of luxury that would leave its mark on the 20th century, and launched his ‘séparables’ – elegant blouses paired with light skirts. This was the start of his success.

The meeting with Audrey Hepburn has been very important for Givenchy, who chose her as main muse. Through the artistic contribution of the several creative directors who have succeeded the brand’s direction over the years, the muse Audrey Hepburn has been reinterpreted in different time periods and sensitivities, from the most traditional to the most transgressive ones.

The fashion house, sold to the LVMH financial group since 1988, is currently managed, with great success, by the Italian designer Riccardo Tisci.

Footwear Museum of Villa Foscarini Rossi
The Rossimoda museum of footwear is located in the main villa of the seventeenth-century architectural complex Villa Foscarini Rossi in Stra along the Riviera del Brenta in the province of Venice. The museum deals with footwear and costume history and collects a collection of over 1700 models of luxury women’s shoes, produced by the shoe factory of the same name in collaboration with high fashion houses.

The museum is one of the few Italian museums dedicated to footwear. It is reviewed in the repertoires of corporate museums and considered relevant in its specificity .

It preserves more than 1700 models, the majority of which testify to the company’s collaboration with stylists from all over the world. .

Prototypes of the company’s collaborations with international fashion houses, from Dior to Yves Saint Laurent, from Givenchy to Ungaro, to Fendi, Christian Lacroix, Pucci, Calvin Klein, Porsche and others. Pieces representative of the company’s history, the historical period and the social context or because they are remarkable from a technical and artisan point of view are exhibited.

The minimalism of American designers such as Donna Karan, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Porsche is represented on the ground floor, while the products of Mediterranean designers such as Emilio Pucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Dior, Roger Vivier, Fendi, Lacroix are visible on the upper floor., Céline and Kenzo, having more space given the longevity of their collaborations with the company.

To the footwear models are added prints, sketches and sculptures from the private art collection of Luigino Rossi: the original sketches by Christian Lacroix and Karl Lagerfeld, the reproductions of the prints by Andy Warhol, and the cartes de vœux by Yves Saint Laurent.