Following a spring show, where he leaned into 1920s silhouettes, for pre-fall Maximilian Davis has crafted a collage of influences connecting his Caribbean roots with the Ferragamo family’s affinity for sailing and the Italian approach to easy dressing. Nautical threads like stripes and sailing details surfaced through Ferragamo’s 1960s archives, while Steve McQueen’s 2015 video installation Ashes, which traces the life of a Jamaican fisherman whose vitality and devotion to the sea ended in tragedy, offered Davis a further layer of interpretation. “Every narrative line led back to the ocean; even Salvatore Ferragamo had to cross it en route to Hollywood, where he became the shoemaker of choice for its starlets,” Davis said.
The languid fluidity of pajama dressing was given a sleek twist in viscose twinsets, cardigans, and loose trousers tied low on the hips with fringed sashes. The maritime thread was apparent in wide-leg high-waisted sailor trousers in silk featuring front zips that could be folded, while maritime knots were abstracted into decorative leather twists, trailing down the back of silk shifts or tracing the V-necklines of dégradé blouses paired with matching pants. The Italian ease of dressing emerged through a focus on shirting, whether masculine, transformed into shirtdresses, or reimagined as scarf-dressing, with foulards draped and spliced into skirts that fluttered with asymmetrical hems.
Leather, of course, is Ferragamo’s piatto forte, and Davis approached it with feather-soft conviction—think smooth unlined nappa, as malleable as silk. The standout was a relaxed shearling peacoat treated to the utmost silky finish, glowing in a deep, indulgent burgundy. On the menswear side, tailoring stayed easy but impeccably sharp, while outerwear had a sporty-meets-elegant edge. A military-green parka casually slipped over a matching slender coat was paired with those winter-white trousers beloved by dapper Milanese gents; it made a compelling argument for that elusive Italian sprezzatura Davis has been chasing since he first took the helm here.
