The link between Italian luxury house Ferragamo and the glittering stars of Hollywood is one that stretches back to the brand’s earliest days. It’s a connection that current Creative Director, Maximilian Davis sought to highlight with his Fall 2023 collection, Cinema, that was unveiled in Milan over the weekend.
Defined by its wistful femininity and structured sartorial codes, the Golden Years of Hollywood are the perfect launch pad for the new direction Davis is taking Ferragamo in.
But this wasn’t just a trip back in time, either. Davis has his sights firmly set on the future, but to get there the young designer seems determined to bring the brand’s rich history along with him.
According to Davis, it wasn’t necessarily what the stars of this era – and he specifically names Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren here – wore, but rather the way they wore it. “I was interested in using their glamour and beauty, and their way of dressing, as a reference, but looking at how we could make it feel modern for today,” says Davis.
Subtle cut-outs and open welts, through which flashed the new official house shade of red or white, gave classic tailoring a sci-fi edge. Trench coats and jackets came with high lapels, with one-and-a-half breast cuts. This was Humphrey Bogart if Bogart was in Blade Runner.
Biker leathers, with a tank top and trousers in matching metallic and athletic-coded casualwear including technical bombers (inspired, says Davis, by ’50s greasers) could be referenced as the T-Birds of tomorrow. If all these futuristic details fail to remind of you the Hollywood of yore, it’s poignant to remember that these decades Davis is referencing was also an iconic period for science fiction films.
Against a movie-worthy, no-expense-spared set built within the MiCo convention centre, Davis has managed to dig deep into the archives without succumbing to the current trend of simply recreating what’s come before for a new audience, something that we’ve seen at other brands undergoing similar seismic shifts in leadership and aesthetic.
