MILAN (Reuters Life!) - Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo has taken a museum detailing its history and culture online, allowing young designers to add their creative touch to its shoe models.

Salvatore Ferragamo

The website, www.museoferragamo.com, is dedicated to its "shoemaker to the stars" founder and includes pictures, vintage films relating to the Florence-based maison, which is known for its shoes, silk ties and scarves as well as handbags.

The fashion house, for whom Claudia Schiffer has modeled, was founded in the 1920s by the late Salvatore Ferragamo who started out designing footwear and made shoes for the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn.

Visitors can browse through Ferragamo archives as well as book tickets to the actual museum in Florence. Artists can download famous shoe models, redesign them and send them back with a panel of judges picking a winner to join a virtual gallery every three months.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)