The Berluti Andy Loafer

1962

The young Olga - who is now the brand's current director and chief designer - being an apprentice, decided to make a moccasin for Andy Warhol. He first came to the Berluti store with his friend, the the already falous Mr. Yves St Laurent.

"He sketched something square and impossible and said, ‘This is what I want’ " says Olga.

And then placed his order. But,.. when the grandfather of Mrs. Olga, Mr. Alessandro Berluti, the founder of the brand, came back from his lunch, he threw the order of Mr. Warhol in the dustbin, because I had forgotten to take a deposit, says Olga.

She then burst into tears. An old worker who saw what was happening, took pity on her, but out of sympathy retrieved the order, and afterwards secretly helped Olga to make up Mr. Warhol’s design. Even when Mr. Andy Warhol was still quite unknown to the public at large, Mrs. Olga Berluti realised at a glance that she was dealing with an very exceptional person.

Olga, eager to attend to this order personally, took her chance, and they became the first pair executed entirely by her. But, since she was working against her family’s wishes, she had to select the hides from recuparation leather leftovers, but the she designed these loafers with a purity and modernism that were unique for the time. After finishing them, with the help of the older, yet very experienced worker, in the 'atelier', she finally had the courage to show them to her grandfather. Shock ! His only reaction was:

“Too long. Too square. The leather is scarred: dustbin.”

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