Mood board: The starting points on Paul Andrew’s moodboard have ranged from Princess Margaret to Brâncusi sculptures. For S/S 2020, the designer bought a personal note to proceedings, basing his sun-drenched, salty collection on a photograph of himself and his brother on holiday in the 1980s, ‘wearing clashing Bermuda prints and smiles.’ In hues of tan, chestnut and a Mediterranean ocean of blues and greens, Ferragamo’s breezy yet sophisticated silhouettes, like buttery leather dungarees, bubble skirts, rib knits and floaty stripe kaftans, were all fit for a luxurious summer holiday wardrobe.
Finishing touches: The Ferragamo family has recently restored Ammannati’s 16th century Fountain of Neptune, in its hometown of Florence. Andrew nodded to this achievement with a series of ebullient Neptune-inspired prints at the brand’s S/S 2020 men’s show in June – where the label was a guest at Pitti – and for women’s these were splashed in blues and greens across shirts and tracksuit trousers. Since taking the creative reigns of the house, Andrew has always delved back into the shoemaking history of Ferragamo. It has a museum of over 15,000 shoes and Andrew’s first A/W 2018 collection was based on the rainbow wedge of its 1938 Judy Garland platform. For S/S 2020, Andrew reimagined the brand’s grosgrain bow Vara pump, with an enlarged bow and a sharper toe.
Scene setting: Outside, models walked around a circular arched colonnade, lined with a single row of seating, at the Rotonda Della Besana, a baroque building complex which features a hexagonal portico and deconsecrated church at its centre. §
