Featured: "Beautiful Velvet Slippers SANTM KICKS UP PUMPS AND SLIPS"
As I write, I’m sporting a pair of SantM’s Furlane velvet slippers. It’s a dreary, rainy day, but their cheery blue brings a ray of sartorial sunshine.
SantM founder and owner, Min Santandrea, introduced the slipper collection in October 2020, while we were busy re-assuring our pumps and stilettos that, yes, we still loved them, and yes, we will wear them again someday, but flat and comfortable works best with our current accoutrements.
She based the design on historic Venetian upper-class house shoe, in which “Royalty [could] sneak up to meet lovers,” says Min. The rooms were marble among the wealthy and kingly sets, so the hardwood-heeled footwear of the day made an unwelcome racket on the floors, alerting any and all residents to one’s comings and goings.
The slippers became popular among the plebeians for their comfort and style, becoming standard kicks for gondoliers, as the rubber doesn’t scuff their canal-faring dories.