Bal Harbour

Vitale. "In terms of packaging, ever y thing is going to change. That 's not an easy decision after almost 100 years." The new Ferragamo that began rolling out last fall will continue its global push into next year, as the entire company undergoes a Davis- led transformation. "He has complete creative control over everything," says Vitale. Updates on some of the most iconic Ferragamo designs, like the Vara shoe, with its signature bow on top — f irst int roduced in 1978 —w i l l beg in fe el s ver y d i f fer ent now — we ' r e over a billion-dollar company, and very global." Vitale's return to Ferragamo followed exec- utive stints at Gucci and Barney's—she over- saw the shutdown of Barney's, in 2019, as the retailer's first female CEO. After the upheavals of the pandemic, she was looking for a new business challenge when Domenico De Sole, her old boss at Gucci—now chairman of Tom Ford — ca l led i n to lobby on Fer ra ga mo's beha l f. "He said, ' they 're rea lly look ing to transform the company, to grow much more exponent ia lly, they 're ready to sca le,'" she says. "It was a sort of no-brainer. It really made sense to be part of that." A few months after she started back at the comp a ny, M a r co G obb e t t i j oi ne d f r om Burberry, as Ferragamo's new global CEO. He fast-tracked Davis's hire as new creative direc- tor. The designer, born into a Trinidadian- Jamaican family in Manchester, had built a cult follow ing w ith his ow n label, Ma ximilian, launched in 2020—and embraced by Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Kim Kardashian, among others. Though Davis arrived at Ferra gamo last spring w ith a st rong point of v iew—and a mandate to reach a much younger audience— he began his new job with humble respect for the brand. "He had done his homework, had done an incredible amount of research on the company and its legacy," says Vitale. "He knew that it was an opportunity to help modernize this, to speak to a new audience, but he also did an incredible job of protecting the codes of the house… most designers want to come in and blow the whole thing up." T h o u g h F l o r e n c e , w h e r e S a l v a t o r e launched his label in 1927, is still the spiritual home of the company, Ferra gamo's creative center has shifted north to Milan. The corpo- rate of f ices, and Davis's atelier, are a shor t stroll from the seminar y building where his first collection debuted. Long abandoned by the Catholic church, the building emerged in December—after a four-year renovation—as the Ferragamo family's new 73-room flagship Portrait hotel, with new shops and restaurants around its stone courtyard. Along with Davis's first collection, a new brand identit y debuted there on the runway last fall—with a new name and updated logo (founder Salvatore will no longer be listed on labels), and a new signature shade of Pantone red. "The palette is much more modern," says hitting store shelves this year. "It's done in a way that has a rea lly modern sensibilit y," says Vitale, of Davis's new take on the shoe style, "but it won't take anything away from that clas- sic consumer who is still wearing it today." Renovated boutiques, reflecting the new era at Ferra gamo, will beg in opening soon. " We have such a unique oppor t unit y," says Vitale, " to reach a completely new audience. Maybe Ferra gamo ha s never even been on their radar before." The Spring/Summer show was set against Ferragamo's new signature Pantone shade of red. 212 BAL HARBOUR

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