In Milan, navigating the nexus of heritage

This year, designers and CEOs share one common goal: getting cautious shoppers to buy luxury amid persistent inflation and economic uncertainty. Such was evident in the succession of shows in the latter half of Milan’s autumn/winter 2024 fashion week.

Big bosses and buyers say they’re more interested in wardrobe classics over flashy showpieces, prompting recent trends such as “quiet luxury” or “stealth wealth”. The problem is that when everyone designs with the same logic in mind, it results in repetition. As one industry observer commented: “all the shows look the same”.

Ferragamo’s collections are typically slick and well-articulated under creative director Maximilian Davis. Seeking to offer a more personal “glimpse of the direction” he was headed in, the designer produced a limited-edition zine (only 1,000 copies were made) containing inspiration, such as still lifes of Caribbean seashells and fruits. 

On the runway, that was reflected in the form of heavy wool coats worn on top of see-through organdie dresses, drop-waist jackets with extra-wide belts and head-to-toe leather looks entirely in one colour. The collection had some memorable pieces, such as dresses embroidered with hand-sewn layers of leather that looked like enlarged sequins and elicited “wows” from the audience.

But on the whole, it struggled to stand out in an unfortunate season where many designers presented similar offerings in a minimalist Italian luxe vein. Anyway, Davis has a larger problem to contend with. While his designs are revered by a fashion crowd, diminishing sales — a 7.6 per cent year-on-year drop to €1.16bn in 2023 — suggests difficulty in convincing the 97-year-old company’s older customer base to buy new.

Plus, Ferragamo’s history is rooted in…