Ferragamo’s ‘prince of quiet luxury’ is busy gaining new fans for the brand in Canada and beyond | Canada Voices

Long before Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo became part of the red-carpet conversation, Salvatore Ferragamo was considered the undisputed king of celebrity footwear. From bespoke sandals for silent-screen stars such as Canada’s Mary Pickford to custom creations for Marilyn Monroe (including her red Swarovski pumps for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn, Ferragamo was the shoemaker of choice for leading ladies from the 1920s to 1950s.

The Italian craftsman, who was born and raised in the small town of Bonito, first moved to Santa Barbara, then Los Angeles, to find a glamorous footing for his brand of inventive, mosaic-loving footwear, which was inspired by the Florentine artisans he apprenticed with.

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By 1927, rising demand required a move back home, where he founded his namesake house in Florence. His cage heels, cowboy boots and stilettos became the foundation of a fashion empire spanning bags, jewellery, accessories, and ready-to-wear. Today, the brand is worth more than $2.5-billion and one of the few major luxury houses still majority family-owned despite going public in 2011.

As Ferragamo approaches its 100th anniversary in 2027, a new generation is rediscovering its origins. Appointed in 2022, creative director Maximilian Davis is reinterpreting the house’s legacy of style and innovation, looking to cultural movements from the past to inform his vision for the future. Although it’s not an easy job to follow in the footsteps of Salvatore Ferragamo – who is credited for inventing the wedge in 1937, pioneering multicolour footwear and was one of the only luxury designers who fabricated shoes during wartime leather shortages using cork, raffia, wood and cellophane – Davis is blazing a pioneering path forward for both the brand and himself.

Starting a business in California as an Italian immigrant in the 1920s was a gamble as audacious as Ferragamo’s designs. In the 2020 documentary Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, Martin Scorsese describes the designer’s move to Santa Barbara as “an act of freedom, a chance to create himself,” linking his rise to postwar Italian migration and opportunity.

Similarly, in 2022, Davis relocated from London to Milan after being appointed by the Ferragamo family to lead a new era, leaving behind his own eponymous label (a favourite of Rihanna). The move unlocked unexpected creative synergies for the Central Saint Martins graduate, whose British and Caribbean roots inform both his visual references and technical craft.

“When I first moved here, I was trying to find myself and figure out my life in this new city,” says Davis via Zoom from his home in Milan. “I found out Italy’s way of living is similar to Trinidad and Jamaica – it comes with so much ease.” He declares his love and use of colour as “the most Caribbean thing about me,” noting that his grandmother taught him to sew when he was seven (while Ferragamo made his first pair of shoes at nine). Davis says her influence remains consistent, with his early collections shaped by Trinidadian carnival culture and its blend of African, Indian and European heritage.

That fusion of identity and craft drew Davis to Ferragamo. Designing his spring/summer 2023 debut, A New Dawn, he reflected on his own layered geography. “Being in Milan, I soon discovered the most Milanese part of me is my love of uniform and structure and simplicity,” he said.

However, like many aesthetes, his youth was woven with pockets of rebellion. “The most Mancunian part of me is the experimental side,” he says. “When I was living in Manchester, I would sneak myself into clubs because I loved house and electronic music that was really pushing the boundaries and allowing people to be creative with what they wore on the dance floor. That kind of freedom never leaves you.”

The result is a 2026 fall/winter collection that has garnered acclaim. Women’s Wear Daily hailed it as “an intriguing combination of swagger and déshabillé,” and Harper’s Bazaar named it his best show yet, noting that Davis has reinvigorated Ferragamo “with his sophisticated but cool and contemporary design point of view.” Holt Renfrew’s vice-president of product, Anne Lee, says the label is seeing growing momentum in Canada and describes Davis as someone who is “slowly becoming the prince of quiet luxury.”

Like Ferragamo, Davis is no stranger to style icons drawn to his craft. Supermodel Natasha Poly wore a high-neck gown with black georgette bodice and espresso satin pleated skirt straight off the fall runway at Cannes, floating down the steps at Les marches du Palais. “It took six samples to perfect,” says Davis. The designer’s friend, chart-topping Dua Lipa, wore an elderberry silk cupro organza shirt and skirt to Cannes and commissioned Davis to design a midnight navy double-breasted suit for actor Callum Turner for the couple’s recent wedding.

Supermodel Christy Turlington is in the current spring/summer campaign. Over the years, Naomi Watts, Solange Knowles and Tracee Ellis Ross have all sat in Ferragamo’s front row. For the Juneteenth performance stop of her Renaissance World Tour in 2023, Beyoncé chose a ruby red gown that Davis designed specifically for the occasion. She also wore a Ferragamo gunmetal mini dress with a train, one of her best looks on the entire tour.

His talent for blending evocative narratives with rigorous craftsmanship is evident throughout his work, including Ferragamo’s fall/winter collection, inspired by contrasting visions of the world before and after the 1920s. “It was a moment when people were taking matters into their own hands, creating movements such as Surrealism, Cubism, Dandyism – all of which are so important today,” he explains. Davis is drawn to these movements because they create fresh visual surprises built on improvisation and juxtapositions.

“What I really would love is to own something from Man Ray – anytime I see a piece from him, its like seeing my holy grail,” he says, citing the artist’s illustrations of interiors, short films, flowers and portraits of his muses. “No matter what medium, they still have a sense of power that I want to tap into.”

Echoes of Cubist painters, jazz singers, sailors and fishermen all made their way into Ferragamo’s fall/winter runway show. (In luxury fashion, marine-inspired styles are historically good for business: trench coats and chunky knits are universal wardrobe basics). Davis remixed the dress codes of sailor uniforms, fisherman workwear and speakeasy silhouettes with fragmented tailoring, reconfigured buttons and undone closures.

The colour palette is rooted dark blues and sepiai, inspired by the sea and Surrealist photography. Studies in fabric, weight and contrast include sculptural knitwear reinforced with chiffon via needle-punching, navy trousers, utilitarian parkas reconstructed in grainy nappa leather with shearling-lined hoods, and evening wear in delicate foiled velvet with pointed stilettos and sleek slingbacks.

Davis’s basic instincts were served with measured playfulness: voluminous drapery on eveningwear, mascarpone and navy wool sweaters with diagonal necklines, and oversized coats with adjustable panels in stunning asymmetrical cuts.

The playlist on repeat while he designed the collection featured Jon Hassell, the late American trumpet player known for working with Brian Eno, who blends traditional African, Asian and European sounds with futuristic electronic compositions. “I was so heavily influenced by the sensuality and improvisation of jazz. It gives you the mood you need to experiment,” Davis says.

That practical-meets-experimental vision is resonating in Canada. Holt Renfrew’s Lee credits Davis and the brand’s lack of flashy logos and motifs as a major draw for Canadian clients.

At a time when luxury consumers are increasingly scrutinizing value, Lee argues Ferragamo’s craftsmanship remains “head and shoulders above a lot of what is going on in fashion right now,” adding that “the quality is still high without dramatic price increases – some labels are even raising up to 20 per cent more per year but not them.”

At Holt’s, classic Ferragamo must-haves such as the men’s loafers, called Grandioso, Desio and Foster, remain hits. “They’re versatile shoes that work for the office, evening dressing, or a night out,” Lee says. For women, the Vanna ballet flat and Vara slide and pump are in demand.

Looking ahead, Lee says the Davis-designed Hug Bag – which comes with the brand’s golden Gancini buckles and folding side panels – will be Ferragamo’s next breakout hit. Of the bag’s fall/winter incarnation, which comes in olive green, cognac, oxblood and navy blue, she adds, “I think it’s safe to say it is the house’s signature accessory for the foreseeable future.”

And that future includes the new Vancouver boutique at Oakridge Park, which opened earlier this month. According to James Ferragamo, grandson of the founder and the company’s chief product officer, “Canada is an important market for Ferragamo. It has a sophisticated and international clientele that strongly appreciates quality, craftsmanship and timeless design.” The new boutique includes three salon-like rooms and a table worthy of display in a gallery created by acclaimed Roman artists Andrea Mancuso and Andrea Anastasio.

Ferragamo added, “Vancouver felt like a very natural choice for our next opening. It reflects many of the values that resonate with Ferragamo today: elegance, modernity, creativity and an appreciation for authenticity. It is a dynamic, culturally vibrant city.”

And Davis’s vision feels at home in Canada and beyond. “Maximilian has introduced a refined and modern aesthetic language that feels effortless, emotional and deeply connected to contemporary culture,” says Ferragamo. Ferragamo’s grandson says Davis, much like the house’s founder, has never been concerned with chasing trends. Instead, he points to Davis’s ability to understand how people want to dress today as his defining skill, one that allows the brand to remain current through intuition rather than imitation.

Aside from the high praise, Davis’s rise is measured less in spectacle than in substance. It does not lean on noise, viral moments or gimmick-driven marketing, but instead builds with the same discipline that defines the house itself – precision and an exacting devotion to craft. Like Ferragamo’s original legacy, Davis gathers weight slowly: making pieces that endure rather than overwhelm, through a trend-agnostic lens that feels rare in an era of overexposure and disposable excess.