This is a collection rooted in memories, in the shared history envisioned by creative director Maximilian Davis for Ferragamo’s upcoming Fall-Winter 2026 season. It reflects on Salvatore Ferragamo’s ocean crossing, similar to that of his parents: a tribute to all those who crossed the ocean seeking a new beginning, a new life, a new perspective. The collection is a true transatlantic journey, rich with elements, details, and craftsmanship that pay homage to the Roaring Twenties while reinterpreting sailors’ uniforms. Everything becomes a vast space of liberation, subversion, emancipation, and social connection in the broadest sense. The glamour of tradition is disrupted by a strong deconstruction of classical codes. The runway transforms into an imagined speakeasy, with a slow soundtrack, an atmosphere where boundaries between masculine and feminine, work and leisure, reality and gossip, blur and merge.
The thread of travel and the sea runs throughout the collection. Jackets and coats are deconstructed with asymmetric buttoning and deep cuts, wide necklines, and large lapels draped over the shoulders. Nautical knits meet airy chiffon, while textured nappa parkas feature shearling-lined details, blending utilitarian craftsmanship with the liberated elegance of evening-wear. The palette itself feels steeped in memory: classic black and white converse with violet and midnight blue, orange paired with petrol, followed by shades of purple, brown, sepia, grey, khaki, red, and gold. These pieces appear on the runway in organic cotton and garment-dyed recycled nylon, with quilted leathers airbrushed like living canvases. Tailoring becomes sensual, reduced in length and line; knitwear is deconstructed; dresses wrap around the body; lengths create movement; leather gives character to the personalities portrayed. Glossy satin is shaped into precious suits and long evening gowns. The first are modern: midi skirts with displaced buttons and braided front laces, and mini skirts with flowing panels. Evening-wear is elegant, with slight trains, contemporary volumes, meticulous workmanship and details, and unique materials: metallic lamé velvet and floral jacquard slip dresses, enhanced with stitching and contrast. Men and women engage in a dialogue through a composed and sincere wardrobe. Masculine character is marked by long coats and double-breasted jackets, soft suits that fall along the body, shirts with seemingly oversized collars, jackets with patch pockets, and ties tucked into the waistband.
“It is an expression of the attempt to imagine something from the past. In its original moment, it would have been vibrant, but now we see it through the page of history.”
Leather goods are essential in all forms, with clean yet strong lines. The new bag comes in three sizes, features a graphic silhouette, and closes with a Gancini plaque. The Hug Bag, in its East-West version, is presented in new colours. The men’s offering is functional: a crossbody with patch pockets and a woven calfskin Hug pouch. For women, a new pointed pump and a deep-cut slingback inspired by a historic 1954 model are introduced. A new hybrid-heeled sandal reinterprets the shell-sole architecture, a technique used by Salvatore Ferragamo in the 1950s. For men, classic Oxfords are reimagined with elongated proportions and moc-toe stitching, complemented by a minimalist boot and a monk-strap with a Hug buckle.
Maximilian Davis thus proposes a sophisticated femininity and modern sensuality, paired with elegant and aesthetically refined masculinity. In the upcoming Fall-Winter season collection, there is a constant dialogue between past, present, and future, with a wardrobe curated from history and inspiration. The narrative is one of role reversals, shifting characters, and fluid personalities. Speakeasies, today as in the Roaring Twenties, are intimate and suspended spaces, hidden environments where secret identities can speak, new ones can be created, or where one can reinvent oneself with the past. The self becomes versatile, mutable, fleeting, almost intangible. It is precisely these suspended spaces, capable of subverting class conventions and identity codes, that inspire the collection: scenarios where rules relax and personal expression becomes free, fluid, and in constant transformation.
