Sergio Rossi, an Italian footwear designer has passed away in the city of Cesena.
The official page of the Sergio Rossi brand reads
“Today everyone at Sergio Rossi joins me in remembering our dear Sergio, the inspiring founder of our dream. Sergio Rossi was a master, and it is my great honour to have met him and gotten to present him the archive earlier this year. His vision and approach will remain our guide in the growth of the brand and the business.
“He loved women and was able to capture a woman’s femininity in a unique way, creating the perfect extension of a woman’s leg through his shoes. Our long and glorious history started from his incredible vision and we’ll remember his creativity forever.”
The legendary designer was 84 years old. It was speculated that he may have contracted coronavirus which resulted to his demise, it was recently confirmed that the COVID-19 claimed his life. This is partly because Rossi was admitted to hospital in one of the Italian regions that has been most brutally affected by the global pandemic.
The fashion house’s chief executive Riccardo Sciutto posted an emotional tribute to the designer on the brand’s Instagram account today.
Italy is rife with talented designers and shoemakers — but even among the best of the best, Sergio Rossi’s legacy looms large.
The designer was a major influence on the industry having created some of the most directional and iconic footwear throughout the 20th century.
Like many shoemakers of the day, Rossi learned the business from his father in the 1940s and 1950s, working alongside him in San Mauro Pascoli, a town in the Emilio-Romagna region of the country.
After World War II, the small village became a shoemaking epicenter, known for handmade sandals that were sold along the Italian Riviera. In 1956, Rossi took over his father’s business and started to create his own handmade sandals. “I have always thought of myself as a calzuler, a cobbler, then I became a ‘creative manager.’ I was born among leather… Watching my father at work I stole his trade,” Rossi once said of his formative years. He launched his namesake brand in 1968.
