Herbert Levine (company)
Herbert Levine is an American luxury shoe label founded in 1948 by Herbert Levine and his wife Beth. Label history. Background. The Herbert Levine label was named after former journalist Herbert. His wife, Beth, was the primary shoe designer of the label. She designed the footwear while Herbert handled the factory management, sales, and marketing. The company. Herbert Levine, Inc. established its first factory on 31 West 31st Street in New York in January 1949. The factory started with a production of 400 pairs of shoes a week; by 1954, it had 200 employees producing 5,000 pair  of shoes a week. In 1975, Herbert Levine, Inc. was still making 900 pairs of shoes a day. Herbert Levine shoes were distributed in numerous boutiques and high-end department stores across the United States and Canada, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Joseph and Bonwit Teller. Herbert Levine shoes were also the first American shoes to be carried overseas by retailers such as Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Harrods in London. In the 1950s, Herbert Levine advertisements were drawn by famous New York illustrator Saul Steinberg and were regularly published in "The New Yorker" and in "Harper's Bazaar . Closed in 1975, the label was revived in 2008 by Dennis Comeau and is today owned by Luvanis, an investment holding company. The shoes. The Herbert Levine label gained media notoriety for outlandish designs: gilded wood platforms, slippers with newspaper, money, or candy-wrapper covered fabrics, Astroturf insoles, and shoes that were glued onto the wearer's nylon stockings. Herbert Levine’s greatest influence however was re-introducing boots to women's fashion in the 1960s and the popularization of the shoe style known as mules. Innovations. Fashion innovations introduced under the Herbert Levine label include: Celebrity clients. First Ladies	Herbert Levine (company)
350147	. The house of Herbert Levine served United States First Ladies Jackie Kennedy, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, and Patricia Nixon in the 1960s and early 1970s. Herbert Levine made black velvet knee-high boots for Mamie Eisenhower as well as most of her pumps. For Jackie Kennedy, Herbert Levine custom-made a pair of thigh-high boots in burlap with a stacked heel, as well as many of the flats that became a signature element of the Jackie Kennedy style. Stars and socialites. In addition to the popularity of the label with Presidents' wives, Herbert Levine shoes were also a 	Herbert Levine (company)
350148	favorite of Broadway stars, movie stars, and socialites. Some of the brand’s famous clients included Barbra Streisand, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Dinah Shore, Janis Paige, Jane Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Walters, Julie Andrews, Rita Hayworth, Peggy Lee, Cyd Charisse, Joan Collins, Cher, Linda Evans, Babe Paley, Rosemary Clooney, Betty Grable, Gladys Knight, Natalie Wood, Debbie Reynolds, Arlene Francis, Phyllis Diller, Helen Hayes, Chita Rivera, Joan Sutherland, Gwen Verdon, Liv Ullmann, Agnes de Mille, Carol Channing, Ali MacGraw, Barbara Hale, and Angela Lansbury. Marilyn Monroe wore Herbert Levine shoes both in her private and public life	Herbert Levine (company)
350149	. Visiting Bement on August 9, 1955, Marilyn wore a pair of Herbert Levine's Spring-o-Lators, immortalized by many pictures, notably the series taken by photojournalist Eve Arnold. In 1957, Marilyn purchased Herbert Levine red stilettos (size 7AA) from the Vogue shop in Montreal; those shoes are now part of the Bata Shoe Museum collection in Toronto. Marlene Dietrich ordered many custom pairs of the so-called Gigi Stocking Shoes" (in size 7 ), and inspired the "Marlene Boot" line of the label, named for her famous legs. Joan Crawford was a fan of Herbert Levine's Cinderella shoes. She  had those Vinylite shoes custom made by Herbert Levine because "she loved to see her feet." Mr. and Mrs. Levine were hired in 1965, along with famed couturier Emilio Pucci and designer Alexander Girard, to help overhaul a new look and style for Braniff International Airways. The campaign, developed by Jack Tinker and partner Mary Wells Lawrence, was dubbed The End Of The Plain Plane, and was a revolutionary airline overhaul that had never before been attempted. The campaign was considered one of the most successful advertising and image reworks in history. Awards and Accolades. In 1954, Herbert and Beth  Levine were awarded a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award for their shoe designs. In 1967, a Coty Special Fashion Critics Award was awarded to Beth and Herbert Levine for “the look of the leg.” In 1973, Beth and Herbert Levine received a second Coty Award; to this day they remain the only shoe designers ever to win it twice. Manolo Blahnik: "Beth Levine is without a doubt the most influential American shoe designer of the 20th century. She is to shoes what Eames is to furniture." Christian Louboutin: "Beth Levine was an influential free spirit. There is nothing that I like  more than seeing a creation coming from pure fun and pleasure, and this is always the case with Levine's refreshing work. God bless her for that!" Museums and Retrospectives. Herbert Levine in Museums. Herbert Levine shoes are in the collections of more than 20 museums around the world, including the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which owns around 140 pairs), the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, and the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan.