Berluti, shoemaker on the Rue Marbeuf since 1895

Berluti, the shoemaker on the Rue Marbeuf, was born in Paris in 1895, when Alessandro Berluti, a cabinetmaker and leatherworker from the Marche region of Italy, settled there after making shoes for a touring theatre company. Isadora Duncan and Elizabeth Arden were among his first clients.

In 1928 his son Torello opened a first shop and workshop on the Rue du Mont-Thabor, then moved in the early 1940s to 26 Rue Marbeuf, close to the Champs-Élysées. Jean Cocteau, Marcel Achard, the Duke of Windsor and Andy Warhol came here. In 1959 Talbinio Berluti launched a line of ready-to-wear shoes.

Olga Berluti, trained in the workshop, led the house for many years and turned the Rue Marbeuf shop into a salon. LVMH bought the house in 1993; it moved into clothing in 2012, after taking over the tailor Arnys. Since 1992 the Swann club, named after a character in Proust, has gathered its clients each year.

On the Rue Marbeuf, in the 8th arrondissement, the historic shop keeps its workshop, where regulars have their shoes given a patina, polished like lacquer. The house also has its flagship on the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré.