Metamodern Woman: Salvatore Ferragamo Autumn/Winter 2020
For Autumn Winter 2020 Salvatore Ferragamo explores the increasingly diverse and flexible nature of contemporary female identity. During the early 20th century, Carl Jung proposed that society’s collective unconscious recognised seven archetypes of women. In the early 21st century a woman is no longer defined by such categories – she is self-defining. Feminine identify is a fluid, self-authored free space that’s ripe for nonconformist experiment and play. Creative Director Paul Andrew says: “The notion of fitting into a set “type” feels increasingly obsolete today, both for women and men. I think the identities we choose to wear today are not fixed through a single filter – they are a shifting kaleidoscope, a collage of characteristics and qualities. “Key to this collection was considering some of the many women we idolise. We found a book by Fulvia Ferragamo in which she collected botanical images for inspiration: we used this across the collection in print, knitwear and also embroidered onto shirting. We also considered a multifaceted range of female heroes from Virginia Woolf to Nancy Pelosi via Michelle Obama and Nina Simone, and worked to reflect their intelligence, bravery and beauty in the collection.” Ferragamo’s foundation is footwear: this collection is an exercise in toe-to-head dressing. The shoes range from a reworked archival heeled sandal (made with off-cuts of Ferragamo nappa), multiple versions of the new Viva shoe (flat slingbacks to powerful block heel thigh-highs), and a tough, articulated sole workboot. Crocodile boots are made of upcycled skins. Bags included an expanded expression of our versatile Trifolio and Studio models plus a cleanly minimal day bag in vegetable tanned nappa. Hand-woven leather strapping decorates bags, shoes and coats to signal both the craft of the Ferragamo artisan, and the intertwined multiplicity of female identity and the genres of womenswear through which they are expressed. Moods include Powerful: chain fringed skirt and dress, floor-length cloaks, bold shearling, an inbuilt scarf/throw detail that runs across suiting and a floral trench, strikingly-silhouetted sculptural pockets. Soft: cashmere topcoats, gauzy botanical printed skirts and shirts, slit hem cashmere skirts, cashmere tights. Structured: seersucker tailoring, pinstriped suit and bustier skirt, formal shirting with embroideries, black evening suit with inbuilt scarf/throw, boot to bustier looks in oxblood leather and black shantung. Romantic: a dress garlanded with signature Vara grosgrain, ribbed chenille dresses, sky blue silk dress with wrapped ankle hem, sheer knit teal dress. Pragmatic: culottes, knits, and shirting looks, leather work pants, liner jacket coat in elevated chevron quilting. Paul Andrew said: “Clothes can sometimes define you. Worn with freedom they can also redefine you as tools for evolution, self-expression and transformation.”