Why it belongs in ORBIS
Paris shoe house founded in 1904 near the Moulin Rouge as Ernest Chausseur, renamed Maison Ernest in 2015; handmade heels, boots and pumps produced in Italian workshops.
Maison Ernest traces to 1904, when Ernest Chausseur opened a boutique at 75 Boulevard de Clichy in Pigalle, steps from the Moulin Rouge, making shoes for the cabaret dancers and performers of the district. In the 1920s the house's heels caught on with Jazz Age figures including Mistinguett and Josephine Baker. Around 1950 Ernest's daughter Jeanine took over and shortened the name to simply Ernest. In the 1970s photographer Helmut Newton photographed the house's Elysee pump and its 14cm heel, and in the 1980s designer Jean Paul Gaultier collaborated with the house on the GO pump. In 2015 the company restored its full name, Maison Ernest, and moved to Saint-Germain-des-Pres. In 2017 it introduced the 'bijou de talon,' a heel ornament treating the shoe as jewelry. The house's shoes are today handmade by artisans working in Italian workshops.