Ferragamo red has been almost entirely abolished for SS24, a colour synonymous with the brand for as long as we can remember, as Maximilian Davis pulled off a full 180 on the Italian house’s signatures this season. Staged in Milan’s Palazzo Delle Scintille, the venue acted as a blank canvas for Davis to paint his newly refined Ferragamo codes. Having delivered a collection steeped in the excess of 1950s Hollywood glamour for FW23, the Manchester-born designer transcended to the next decade for a collection inspired by Italy’s radical Arte Povera movement of the late 1960s to 1970s – a period defined by humble materials, unconventional forms and a rejection of classicism. Speaking on Ferragamo’s latest collection, Davis said: “I really wanted the pieces to feel very pure and honest; for the collection to be relatable within a wardrobe, but interesting in terms of the touch of the hand.”

Looking to his heritage, Davis fused the ease of Caribbean dressing with the Renaissance Amor of Florence as linens and cotton were fashioned into lightweight workwear jackets, finely bonded onto satins to form structured capes or treated to appear as leather. Sleek black suits opened the show with cinched waistlines and flowing sleeves slit to the shoulder, a silhouette which rippled throughout the collection as hues of deep bottle green took on the same form moments later. A tension of freedom and restraint was at a constant push and pull as jersey fabrics were draped into louche, all-encompassing dresses or sweeping skirts while leather bodices and metal hardware adorned necklines were reminiscent of Renaissance armour.

Accessories came into their own as Davis turned to the brand’s archive for inspiration, crafting a 3D-printed banana-heeled version of Ferragamo’s 1955 Calypso sandal alongside Nappa latex shoes or gaucho lak boots. Meanwhile, handbags continued to evolve in their signature geometric forms as the Hug appeared in a high-shine pouch alongside newly understated canvas and leather iterations.