When I was sixteen, my mom and I scoured the racks of Upper East Side thrift stores that no longer exist for a dress for my junior year high school semi-formal. We ended up finding a Marc Jacobs-era Louis Vuitton dress (that I still own!) for under $200. We went home and my mom ransacked her shoe closet, pulling out a pair of her caged Salvatore Ferragamo heels to wear with it. But I refused. I remember her saying, “But they’re Salvatore Ferragamo!” and I, a sixteen year old wearing a neon pink Juicy Couture shirt that said “Beware: Shopaholic” across the chest, told her, “I don’t even know what that means.” (I still own the Juicy shirt, by the way. Though I no longer wear it in public.)
If only 16-year-old me could see the world now. The debut collection that appeared last Saturday, by newly appointed wunderkind creative director Maximilian Davis, had things that would appeal as much to a young fashion fanatic as they would to a more seasoned one like my mother.
In a press release following the show—with the ‘Salvatore’ notably missing from the name—the designer said this was a new beginning. “I wanted to pay tribute to Salvatore’s start by bringing in the culture of Hollywood—but new Hollywood, its ease and sensuality; its sunset and sunrise.” In addition to shortening the brand's name, Davis introduced a new twisted Pantone red as a signature throughout the collection. It was inspired equally by the famous red shoes Ferragamo made for Marilyn Monroe in 1959 and the flag of Trinidad and Tobago, where Davis’s family is from. He also let things get a little bit weird: a long fringe bag dragged in the red clay runway, corrupting its white silk with red stains.
Collection highlights included head-to-toe suede suits with pouch bags fastened at the belt, a sparkling sequined suit that looked like it was embellished with glistening grains of red sand from underneath the model’s feet, and completely sheer goddess dresses that somehow covered nothing and everything, the fabric at the bottom gathering like a thick brush stroke in a renaissance painting.
Davis has a unique challenge ahead of him. Ferragamo is a brand best known for its shoes and bags, worn by Golden Era screen stars like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. But unlike a majority of big luxury brands, most editors and writers and even fashion fans can’t name the house’s last couple of designers. The accessories are recognizable (and extremely well made), but the ready-to-wear lacks an established design language. Ferragamo’s customers are also more conservative, and older, and don't really care about or likely even know how to define the word “hype.”
Davis’s collection, with some non-sequined trousers mixed in alongside a red mini-coat dress, and a taupe pantsuit styled with a matching trench, seems eager to please those longtime customers. But his interest in updating old school glamor seems like a strategy to make a red carpet splash. Davis’s generation of fashion stars is packed with celebrity stylists who are essential to the industry—like, Wayman and Micah, Jason Rembert, and Law Roach—and who understand that dressing the world’s biggest stars is about more than getting them photographed on a step-and-repeat. The very best red carpet styling often tells you more about a designer’s vision than any google search or press release could (Zendaya would look fabulous in one of those renaissance brushstroke dresses.) I am only three years older than the 27-year old Maximillian Davis but we are of the same generation of people who recite red carpet credits like they’re bible verses. We worship at the altar of our favorite looks because they feel both holy and yet still more real than anything on the silver screen.
In other words, Millennial and Gen Z fashion followers have all of the same style touchstones—and I just know Ferragamo isn’t one of them. But that’s exactly why they—specifically recently-appointed CEO Marco Gobbetti, who also brought Phoebe Philo to Céline in 2008—hired Davis. In the age of social media, hype feels necessary, especially if you want a brand like Ferragamo to appeal to a younger generation that learns most of its news via 15-second video clips. And Davis already knows how to create excitement. After a much discussed fashion week debut in 2020 at Fashion East, the British fashion incubator that launched brands like Simone Rocha and Johnathan Anderson, Maximilian Davis was becoming both a name and brand to watch. After his eponymous line was worn by Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Bella Hadid, the designer went on to compete in the LVMH Prize semifinals, only to drop out to take the top job at Ferragamo. (He has shuttered his own brand to focus on Ferragamo.)
Davis’s arrival might make my generation think of the appointments of John Galliano to Dior or Alexander McQueen at Givenchy; both designers are among the kinds of aforementioned fashion touchstones twenty-somethings have embraced. But Davis has an opportunity much more like Marc Jacobs did when he arrived at Louis Vuitton in 1997, which had never created ready-to-wear before. The language of the clothes is Davis’s to create.
Perhaps my mother would scoff at those exposed nipples—some women my own age might, too. But Davis’s new version of the famous Elina heel, revived old cut-out bag silhouette in polished leather, and reimagined archival prints on scarves painted in pastel sunset hues? Those sound like potential future grails to me.
