September 30, 2022: This past month has marked many milestones for the heritage house of Salvatore Ferragamo. And this new chapter of Ferragamo is a conversation between the classic and the contemporary, based on both heritage and a clear vision of the now.
“History is an immense treasure for a house that owns it. The new Ferragamo logotype contains and expands both history and the now. Far from being just a logo, it is a program, which will frame and direct the new chapter that is about to be written,” says newly appointed CEO and general manager of Ferragamo, Marco Gobbetti.
The Italian luxury house commissioned Peter Saville, British art director and graphic designer, to create a new logo for which he conceived a modernist take on a classic font, recalling the classical stone inscriptions that inspired Renaissance artists. The new logo features the founder’s handwriting translated into a serif font. Filtered through a resolutely reductionist lens, it is charged with a sense of history instead of being laden with the weight of history. The founder’s first name is no longer a part of the logo, while the looping font has been replaced by a cleaner looking one.
“The equity of Florence is in the culture of the company: that led me to the choice of a classic font. The vision is exacting and modern. Thereafter, the font is reduced and becomes modernist. Then there is the craft that is quintessentially Ferragamo, which is condensed in the idea of an inscription set in stone. Within this tension lies the new logotype and the complex balance it expresses,” says Mr. Saville.
The brand had previously launched another logo with brand initials, soon after Mr. Gobbetti’s appointment at Ferragamo.
For Maximilian Davis’ Ferragamo debut, the designer unveils a new dawn for the brand: a renaissance of its Hollywood history. “I wanted to pay tribute to Salvatore’s start by bringing in the culture of Hollywood – but new Hollywood,” explains Mr. Davis. “Its ease and sensuality; its sunset and sunrise.” Ethereal elegance materialises through sheer knits, liquid silk and layers of organza but appears grounded by suede sandals drawn from Renaissance reality and the natural allure of polished accessories.
The languid, beachfront glamour of new Hollywood is subverted by flashes of fetishism: glossy leathers, second-skin fits and micro shorts. Elevated everyday essentials – tank tops, polo necks, leggings – appear almost perverse in their simplicity. Effortless knits are wide-woven to reveal the skin beneath or so fine as to appear translucent.
Drawing upon the sparkling red shoes Ferragamo made for Marilyn Monroe in 1959, the collection seems to be scattered with crystals: the Hollywood hallmarks of glitz and glamour refracted anew.
Tailoring twists the classically masculine tropes of eighties executives into a modern wardrobe: perfectly-proportioned, louche refinement formed from fabrics often reserved for womenswear. The tuxedo is imbued with a new energy: shirting cut in silk organza and cotton poplin; collars or sleeves removed. The Wanda bag – first introduced in 1988 and named after Salvatore’s wife – is reinterpreted in sleek new proportions, while a prismatic shoulder bag carries a sense of minimalist modernity.
Organic forms are translated with linear precision. The new Elina heel is clearly defined, while the revival of a cut-out bag, now realised in polished leather with a contrasting canvas, echoes the undulating shapes of sculptural jewellery. Floating scarves appear streamlined; archival prints reduced, redrawn and reimagined. Draped into new forms, they revitalise the formative codes of the Ferragamo DNA. A palette extracted from Rachel Harrison’s Sunset Series colours degradé prints and hand-dyed knits, from optic white to deep indigo, butter-soft yellow to sky blue.
Mr. Davis is doing for Ferragamo what Riccardo Tisci did for the British house of Burbrerry – merging traditional house codes with modern symbols to create a new vocabulary. The collection brings the paradoxical nostalgia of Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn as they bought a revolution in fashion of that era with culturally inspired, glamour couture.
With this Spring Summer 2023 collection, a new Pantone red formally codifies the brand’s iconic hue, dominantly visible throughout the collection and within the show space with the red sand covering the floor.
“The sand relates to Ferragamo, to Hollywood, to the ocean – but also to me, and to my own DNA,” explains Mr. Davis. “To what the sea means to Caribbean culture: a place where you can go to reflect and feel at one. I wanted to show that perspective, but now through the Ferragamo lens.”
