Maximilian Davis tapped into his Caribbean heritage for pre-fall; on his mood board, images shot by Malian photographer Malick Sidibé in the 1970s were evocative of that time, when bell-bottomed, high-waisted silhouettes and Sunday-best tailored suits were in vogue as epitomes of status and prestige. He filtered that mood through the sleek minimalism he’s brought to Ferragamo: “I wanted every piece to feel elegant yet immediate and easy to wear,” he explained at a showroom appointment.
Davis leaned into high-end craftsmanship, one of Ferragamo’s strong points, to achieve the insouciant polish he’s after. “It’s about that sense of Italian-ness,” he noted. Tailoring for both men’s and women’s was neat, narrow-proportioned and luxurious; his take on wardrobing was both cool and impeccable. Case in point was his reinterpretation of corduroy, a quintessentially ’70s fabric, in a dark cocoa hue; it was rendered into an attractive slim suit for men, and an overshirt/high-waisted pants combination for women.
Scarf dressing, one of the templates in Davis’s Ferragamo repertoire, was again showcased through handsome variations of the genre, a standout being a dark espresso shirt and skirt ensemble with undulating fluid panels wrapping on the side. The emphasis on streamlined fluidity carried over to a two-tone shirtdress, where a red, tailored shirt-like bodice extended seamlessly into a black asymmetrical parachute skirt, crafted from sensuous draped jersey. Elsewhere, vivid Caribbean colors were slightly muted, and tropical-inspired prints were given an abstract, distorted twist, reprised also in the organic pattern of crocheted lace inserts on the neckline of a liquid, satiny evening slipdress.
