In the days before the brand’s Fall show, Salvatore Ferragamo announced the promotion of Paul Andrew to creative director, overseeing all design operations for the company. He’s had a fast rise at this Italian leather goods house; it was just 2016 when he was brought in to handle footwear. Though ready-to-wear is new to him, he’s put Ferragamo on solid ground. You don’t have to scroll too far back through the seasons to see that.
Andrew’s approach to ready-to-wear has been to start with the shoes; “dressing toe to head” is the way he put it. Fall began with a shoe from 1942, a multicolored patchwork suede wedge that’s a kissing cousin to the famous 1938 rainbow platform made for Judy Garland. It provided the collection’s kaleidoscopic palette and the patchwork motif that ran through it. Not that it ever got too theme-y. The vivid colors he’s adopted aside, the Ferragamo aesthetic under Andrew is understated and elegant, a point he has reinforced with his multigenerational casting. The sensationally chill Liisa Winkler scored the show’s hero piece, a generously proportioned robe coat that looked like shearling but was actually fleecy pulled cashmere. That coat silhouette also looked great in a bordeaux-hued leather. Under designer Guillaume Meilland, the menswear standout was a neatly tailored three-button coat with silk satin lapels—classic but with a wink.
There was a whole family of shoes on the runway, from dainty flats sprayed with crystals to satin tango numbers to knee boots with angular heels inspired by a 1968 shoe from the archive. There was some variety to the handbag offering, as well. Though the emphasis seemed to be placed on frame bags, the one that caught the attention of the editors in section A was a soft suede hobo with a long shoulder strap in a winning shade of pistachio green.
