Wanda Ferragamo, who turned her husband’s Italian shoe company into a luxury-goods empire and fulfilled his dream of dressing the customer from head to toe after taking over the business more than 50 years ago, has died. She was 96. She died Friday, according to a person close to Salvatore Ferragamo SpA.

The widow of Salvatore Ferragamo, who produced custom-made shoes for actresses such as Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe, lacked any business experience when she took on the running of her husband’s company after he died in 1960.