Maximilian Davis returns to Hollywood, Salvatore Ferragamo's second home, for Autumn/Winter 2023, and draws inspiration from the star-studded fashions the house collaborated with throughout the 1950s.
Seen through the lens of clean-cut modernity, their hyper-feminine beauty adopts an alien futurism; the volumes and silhouettes of the era distinctly displaced.
“It’s how Ferragamo started, making shoes for films in the 1930s, and that grew into building relationships with movie stars like Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s,” explains Davis. “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.”
“I wanted to introduce the more romantic side of the fifties, and the two elements appear to contrast so directly – the ethereality against the rigour – that they somehow go hand-in-hand,” explains Davis. The emergence of that languid elegance, expressed in bat-wing sleeves and Renaissance draped details, presents a counterpoint to the high-octane, fetishistic glamour of shimmering lamé minidresses and patent leather that emerges through the close of the collection. “This is my take on what people from the 50s would think of the future: alienated metallics and high shine,” says Davis.
That sentiment consolidates the spirit of the season – the imagining and re-imagining of disparate eras and cinematic aesthetics which, through the new Ferragamo lens, find resolute modernity.
