A selection of pieces from Maximilian Davis’ minimalist spring collection—his first for the house—are premiering this month in Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Salvatore Ferragamo’s beginnings as a Hollywood Boulevard shoemaker are top-of-mind in Maximilian Davis’ debut collection, the Florentine house’s Spring/Summer 2023 release. The Golden State’s sunrises and sunsets and the eclectic culture of what Davis calls “new Hollywood” inspired the minimalist looks included in A New Dawn, his preview capsule on offer through November 30, at Ferragamo’s Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa locations in California. The pieces, available ahead of next year’s official spring release, are comprised of precisely cut silhouettes in beachfront shades of red, white and fiery orange. Sparkling separates in this first drop pay homage to the house founder’s designs for Marilyn Monroe. Second-skin suede dresses and pants with harness details round out the ready-to-wear. Showstopper footwear styles include Davis’ Elina sandals with matte golden heels in the house’s sculptural Gancini silhouette—a symbol evoking the wrought iron hardware at the entrance to the house’s landmark building in Florence—plus loafers and boots.
The Manchester-born designer—who comes from a family of models and design-minded creatives with roots in Trinidad and Jamaica and whose grandmother taught him to sew as a child—studied at the London College of Fashion, assisted Grace Wales Bonner and launched his own eponymous label before taking the helm at Ferragamo. His new chapter at the Italian house includes a reinterpretation of the archival Wanda handbag in polished leather with sculptural cut-outs. The undulating pattern is meant to mimic sandy beachfronts. Davis says the collection relates to the house founder, the ocean and to Hollywood, but also to himself and to his own DNA. He tapped photographer Jackie Nickerson, also known for her social documentation of Irish religious orders and African farm workers that often merge portraits with landscapes, to shoot the preview capsule in and around Hollywood. Parking lots, suburban sidewalks and sagebrush-filled coastal mountains are all striking settings for Davis’ polished new looks. 357 N. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-273-9990; 3333 Bristol St., Ste. 2515, Costa Mesa, 714-979-7654.
November 4, 2022
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