Salvatore Ferragamo takes it easy with laid-back summer chic

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Sep 23, 2019

Paul Andrew has thought up a nonchalant and discreetly luxurious collection for Salvatore Ferragamo for Summer 2020. Looking for all the world as though they were strolling through the arcades of an old Mediterranean city, the carefree models walked through the baroque portico of the Rotonda della Besana, which surrounds the church of San Michele ai Nuovi Sepolcri and its verdant garden to create a kid of lush urban oasis.  
 

  
The clothes were tailored in soft fabrics with comfortable volumes, channelling an elegant yet simple, almost minimalist, aesthetic. All-white looks quickly gave way to a summery palette that oscillated between pastel shades and natural colours, livened up here and there by flashes of red and electric blue. 
 
This latest collection from the Florentine luxury label, presented in a coed show in Milan on Saturday, stood out from the start thanks to the great effort that had obviously gone into making the materials as light as possible. Smooth Nappa leather was one such material with which the British designer had taken it upon himself to make an entire wardrobe; all the way from sockettes to a cap, complete with a dress, a skirt, trousers, shorts, a shirt, a jacket, a mini-top, an anorak and a djellaba. 

The colourful leather was so fine and flexible that it could easily have been confused with the collection's other star material: nylon. Andrew used this lightweight technical fabric to make skirts, coats and sirwal-like trousers, as well as a Klein-Blue maxi-dress with long split sleeves, which was worn under a classic waterproof windbreaker.
 

 
At first, the collection seemed to give the models an innocent girl-next-door look, but beneath the bow-decorated pumps, white sockettes, classic cotton dresses, poplin shirts and bubble skirts matched with long-sleeved jumpers, a sensual femininity was hiding. Ribbed jumpers were opened wide at the back, as was a precisely cut menswear jacket, while some crocheted cut-out dresses left models' shoulders almost completely bare. 

The outfits alternated a classic spirit with a more relaxed, even sporty, attitude, as seen in a pair of XXL sky-blue overalls; loose puffed drawstring trousers, cinched at the waist; tightly-knit colourful ensembles made up of micro-shorts and tight tops that revealed models' midriffs; and hooded anoraks that were worn like shirts. And to top it all off, baseball caps added a hint of rebelliousness.