The Salvatore Ferragamo design team of Paul Andrew for womenswear and Guillaume Meilland for menswear worked in perfect symphony for their second combined collection.
At Ferragamo, the looks are defined from the shoe up. This season’s fantastic sculpted women’s heels were inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s studied curves and the woven uppers from the Ferragamo archives.
“There are actually all sorts of materials and almost every girl has a different shoe, which I love the idea of doing this season,” Andrew said backstage. “There’s cork heels, stacked leather, wrapped in snakeskin. There are wooden clogs.”
A 1940 Ferragamo archive photo of Loretta Young wearing a bevelled heel inspired the loose trouser and the palm tree floral print that permeated the collection on handkerchief dresses, suit ensembles and bowling shirts. The colour palette was mostly Tuscan-inspired natural hues that were deployed with military precision, with contrasting peacock purple and teals in standout overcoats for him and for her.
The brand is looking to target youth while still maintaining its traditional mature customers, sending out experienced models, including 1990s cover-girl Stella Tennant, to underline that point. Tennant opened the show in an olive leather handkerchief skirt, belted with a taupe T-shirt. Woven boots finished the look.
Menswear and womenswear echoed each other. Coveralls for men were worn apron down under a suit jacket while a women’s tailored jacket was left open in the back for an apron effect, and worn with roomy trousers that blurred into a long skirt.
“I feel until recently Ferragamo was speaking too many different aesthetic languages,” Andrew said. “You would walk into a store and not really understand what the message was. In working together, we have built this new vocabulary of dressing, in both ready-to-wear and shoes and accessories.”
American actors Armie Hammer and Julianne Moore took front row seats at Ferragamo. Hammer sat with James Ferragamo, the grandson of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, who oversees accessories at the fashion house.
“I’m a big fan of the (Ferragamo) family, both in person and also their clothes. It is great to come out to a beautiful city like Milan and look at beautiful clothes with beautiful people,” Hammer said, motioning toward Moore.
