Fashion Men's Fashion

Skepta, Naomi Campbell, and Tyler Mitchell Energize Ferragamo’s New Era

Visits: 29

Maximilian Davis’s splashy entrance at Ferragamo established luxury menswear’s new star.

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“That was beautiful. Wow,” said the artist Tyler Mitchell immediately after Maximilian Davis’s star-studded Ferragamo debut. He spoke for the rest of the front row, packed with Davis’s friends and supporters from around the world, who had flown in to support the 27-year-old’s campaign to turn Ferragamo into a modern ready-to-wear juggernaut. (Davis started by lopping off “Salvatore” for a logo redesigned by creative legend Peter Saville, whose imprimatur has also marked new beginnings for Burberry and Calvin Klein.) Held at the palatial site of what will eventually be a Ferragamo hotel, it felt like a family reunion of Davis’s biggest supporters from London, where he made his name designing sensual slips: Naomi Campbell and Edward Enninful had a confab among the stone pillars, while Skepta posed for photos in a fresh Ferragamo belt. Mitchell and model Jordan Barrett, meanwhile, sported elegant new suits of Davis’s design: Mitchell a dark navy three-button blazer over flowy trousers with jaunty knee cutouts, and Barrett a radiant white suit with flared sleeves. Classics, dusted off for a young and sophisticated customer.

Naomi welcomes you to a new chapter in Ferragamo’s glamorous history.

Out came one of those suits in a chill shade of tan, and another, with shorts, rendered in lustrous black leather. Palate cleansers, really, to make the fiery red trousers and matching slick tank tops peppered through the rest of the collection feel that much hotter. “When joining Ferragamo, the Ferragamo red was very quiet, very dark,” Davis said after the show. “And I felt like the new energy that I wanted to bring was about making it more vibrant…So we made that statement that this is the new Ferragamo, this is the new color for the brand.” It’s a clever branding move that will, hopefully, hit with the same force as “Bottega Green” and Valentino’s searing bubblegum pink. Notably, there was little overt branding to be found on the clothes or accessories, and not a single Gancini-link loafer to speak of. A lapel-less black tuxedo with a delicate silk scarf plunging off the back—“I really wanted to have this crossover between men’s and womenswear, playing with the fabrications and using the more feminine fabrics for men’s tailoring,” Davis said—made it even more clear that this is not your lawyer’s Ferragamo.

Tyler Mitchell wore the coolest suit at the entire function.

The real story, though, was not to be found on the runway, no matter how compelling Davis’s interpretation of old Hollywood and the Ferragamo pumps special-made for Marilyn Monroe, which inspired some red carpet-ready glittering trousers. Rather, it was in the crush of people trying to get backstage to toast the young phenom after the show. “I can’t stop crying,” remarked one as she worked toward Davis through the crowd of well-wishers. Davis is part of a tight-knit crew of spectacularly talented young London designers whose influence is starting to be felt on a global scale, all of whom command loyal followings and are embedded in buzzy scenes. If his young and cool friends, and members of new Hollywood like Ashton Sanders—whose sick black leather jacket and swishy bronze track pants would have been the look of the show—keep up the energy they displayed on Saturday, your next suit might be cut in fire-engine red.

Ashton Sanders: go Sox, go Max.

Paloma Elsesser holding it down backstage.

Stylist Dara in the world of Ferragamo red.

As does Law Roach.

British Vogue’s Edward Enninful

Chaeyoung from Twice.

Jordan Barrett, showing off how trousers should fit.

Skepta, in the only Ferragamo belt I saw all day.

The venue is the site of the future Ferragamo hotel. No word on whether they’ll keep the red sand.

Two big and bold fits in the pre-show lineup.

The new Ferragamo loafer is actually a sandal.

Davis wanted to evoke sunrises and sunsets through several dyed fabrics. 

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