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The 1920s was the decade Ferragamo was born, and it was also the house’s philosophy. A decade of seismic reinvention, crackling with the energy of those who refused the ordinary, who built worlds from dreams and dare. Creative Director Maximilian Davis has worn that inheritance with uncommon authority since 2022, steering the house through its own era of beautiful transformation.
The AW26 collection pays homage to a tether between the brand’s founder, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Davis, of ancestry bound by saltwater. Ferragamo understands a sailor to be one who voyages in search of a better life for their family; Salvator Ferragamo spent time in America before returning to Italy, where he opened a workshop in Florence and established himself as a footwear brand, while the Davis family immigrated from Jamaica and Trinidad to England where he would study fashion and become the Italian maisons youngest and first Black Creative Director. This shared experience between the fashion house’s origins, present, and future is clear as a testament to all those who “crossed the water to discover new beginnings,” says Davis in a statement.
Silhouettes and garments that centre the collection are informed by the versatility of seamen, specifically the impressive repertoire of jackets, coats, and shirts designed for the season. Trench coats surrender their stoic rigidity and embrace naval unpredictability through their oversized structure, while double-layered leather jackets act as armour. Practicality is maintained through fabrication, including maritime nautical knitwear that is structured by needle-punched chiffon, and high-quality nappa leather garments that home interiors of shearling. In this space of design, aesthetics and functionality craft a collection designed to be worn and for adventure.
Formal Oxford shoes are refined through a contemporary lens that brings an essence of luxury to an otherwise blue-coloured inspired collection. As for accessories, cross-body bags and the appearance of the Hug pouch, first debuted in 2023, reinstate the runway as an expression of functionality.
The thematics of this collection are rooted in the transformative nature of the 1920s, depicted through the art of the time, which is appreciated not for nostalgia but as an era suspended between escape and rebirth. Surrealist photographers of the time, like Emmanuel Radnitzky or Man Ray, allowed much to be expressed and communicated through sepia-toned muted shades of browns and beiges that allow the collection to have a lived-in comfort. Meanwhile, anchoring shades of blues and greens are punctuated with appearances of reds and yellows in tribute to the works of Cubist artists like Picasso, who paved a transition for this aesthetic to Synthetic Cubism, and used the softness of watercolour in embracing the vibrant primary tones that are the origins of all colour. The collection is viewed through a “haze of history” describes Ferragamo, but one that uses time as not a distant memory, but a muse.
