In Their Driving Shoes

Armed with nothing but a Leica and a bicycle horn, photographer Elliott Erwitt has been creating unforgettable images for more than six decades. An original member of the Magnum photographers’ collective, he is renowned for his intuitive visual wit as well as his fondness for dogs (he often talks to them with his own convincing canine growl), the subjects of his seminal pictures Felix, Gladys and Rover (1974) and Paris (1989). Seldom setting up his black-and-white photographs (beyond blasting his horn to grab the attention of passers-by), Erwitt is fascinated by the quirks of reality and chance occurrence, and refuses to indulge in digital manipulation. This season he has trained his lens—which has captured such 20th-century icons as Che Guevera and Marilyn Monroe—on 22 families from the UK, the US and France. The photo series “Icons by an Icon” was commissioned to showcase the classic luxury leather brand Tod’s trademark D Bag, Gommino driving moccasin and Ballerina shoe. These iconic designs are effortlessly modeled by Erwitt’s well-to-do sitters, including members of the Duménil and Cuomo families, as well as Erwitt’s own kin. The images will be exhibited in Tod’s shop windows between March and April 2010. And as of yesterday, the D Bag and Gommino can be custom-made in a range of 14 exotic materials and personally monogrammed at the Tod’s store in Paris.