Roger Vivier facts for kids

Shoes by Roger Vivier for Christian Dior

Roger Henri Vivier was a French fashion designer. He was born on November 13, 1907, and passed away on October 2, 1998. He was best known for creating amazing shoes. Many people say he invented the stiletto heel.

Roger Vivier's Amazing Career

A Roger Vivier shop in Beijing, China

Many people called Vivier the "Fragonard of the shoe." This means his shoes were like beautiful art, just like paintings by the artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Critics also called his shoes "the Fabergé of Footwear." This compares them to the very fancy Fabergé eggs.

Vivier designed shoes that were very fancy and decorated. He thought of his shoes as small sculptures. He is known for creating the first platform shoe in 1937. He also designed the first stiletto heel in 1954. Stiletto heels are very thin, high heels. Vivier helped make this style popular again. He used a thin steel rod to make them strong.

Famous Customers and Designs

Many famous people wore Vivier's shoes. These included Ava Gardner, Gloria Guinness, and The Beatles. He even designed special shoes for Queen Elizabeth II for her coronation in 1953.

From 1953 to 1963, Vivier designed shoes for the fashion house Christian Dior. He loved to try new shapes for heels, like the "comma" heel. He used many beautiful materials to decorate his shoes. These included silk, pearls, beads, lace, and jewels. Each pair was truly unique.

In the 1960s, Vivier also designed fancy boots. Some were silk-satin knee boots with jewels. Others were tall, thigh-high evening boots. One famous design was a low-heeled, thigh-high black crocodile boot. He made these for Yves Saint Laurent's fashion show in 1963.

Perhaps his most famous shoe from the 1960s was the Pilgrim pump. These low-heeled shoes had silver buckles. They were made for Yves Saint Laurent's 1965 collection. The actress Catherine Deneuve wore them in the movie Belle de Jour. These shoes became very famous and many copies were made.

Vivier's Legacy and Shops

Today, there is a Roger Vivier shop on Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. Its design is inspired by Vivier's own home. Many shoes are made specially for customers. Some even have gold thread sewn by hand. There are also shops in the USA.

You can see Vivier's shoes in many famous museums. These include the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His shoes are also at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Other museums include the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto and the Musée de la mode et du textile at the Louvre in Paris.

The Roger Vivier brand is now owned by a company called Tod's. They bought the brand in 2006.