For Ferragamo's Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Maximilian Davis returns to the 1920s, reconsidering his eclecticism through his demanding look, while exploring the founding period of the house.
Exhumed from the Ferragamo archives, an 1925 image of the star of the silent cinema Lola Todd, dressed in leopard from head to toe, first prompted an exploration of the exotic prints and textures that characterized the movement « Africana » jazz era. « I was interested in how some materials, prints and textiles were imported from Africa and the Caribbean into America and Europe to become a sign of social status. », explains Davis. Today, distilled in silk satin-flavoured animal prints, deep-skin jewellery and fringe ornaments, the Crazy Years are reinvented.
The elegance liberated from the era is also highlighted: clandestine costumes and straight combinations adorned with lace cuts; Low waist dresses and neckline. « It was a time when women created a new femininity – a celebration of freedom, a self-reconquest », explains Davis. « It was a time when people created spaces and rebelled against social norms – and that spirit was reflected in wardrobes. » Harlem Renaissance zoot costumes and casual and expressive dandysm color the spirit of men's fashion, while the ties worn by men are reappropriated into scarves that surround the size of tuxedos, or fit into patchwork dresses.
Elsewhere, the graphics and color block of the illustrations of the era are reflected in saturated varnish leathers, Gancini closures and fine meshes; the placement of flowers in silk crepon is reappropriated from archive images.
On the shoe side, the sculptural heel « S » offers a new iteration of style « F » previous seasons. A caged leather escarpin shows an evolution of an archive model, the Kimo, while Gancini chains circle the ankles of fetishes with pointed and low toe. The boudoir mules are in satin and appear to be embroidered with flowered pearls, while the flanges of the needle heels roll around the foot, covering it with satin knots. Inspired by an archive shoe, a male derby is reinterpreted and elongated for modern elegance, while polished leather mules and sandals offer carefree ease.
As for accessories, the iconic Hug bag comes in new animations and materials – varnished and braided leathers, stamped crocodile and suede nubuck – alongside the bent bag of scarf inspiration, available in the colors and prints of the season, with removable Gancini accessories. An elegant wrist bag, adapted from the archives, is decorated with a golden Gancini clasp, while feathers explode on another bag and appear in fringes on the edges of the Soft bag. For men, handicrafts are celebrated through woven leather panels that appear on Hug and Sailor bags.