Salvatore Ferragamo RTW Fall 2022

Guillaume Meilland did a good job of bringing the brand into the fashion conversation.

Salvatore Ferragamo design director Guillaume Meilland is determined to take the brand in a more modern, casual-luxe, gender-fluid direction. At the fall 2022 presentation, there wasn’t a bow in sight.

To be expected, accessories were front and center, but they were trend-right, rugged, lug sole hiker and combat boots, as well as a new running shoe with rainbow soles referencing Ferragamo’s iconic 1938 shoes.

The brand debuted a utilitarian soft, foldover bucket bag with studded base, and a half-moon bag with a chunky leather chain that was a motif throughout, and a little too reminiscent of Jonathan Anderson.

The 36 coed looks also played off the brand’s leather goods heritage in fun ways, with 1960s-inspired leather button-front minis and a gorgeous green leather A-line coat borrowing hardware from Ferragamo bags.

Meilland mixed in plenty of texture with a feathery looking black sleeveless top of shaved, lacerated shearling, worn over blue duchesse silk trousers, for example, as well as on cable knit knit sweaters and long john pants.

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But there was a practical lightness to a flirty red, weightless knit ruffled keyhole tank, a draped knit tunic that looked great over pants, and a poncho made from two wool cashmere scarves.

Meilland referenced workwear in Dickies-like chinos made from cotton silk, and a pair of wool overalls.

“The idea is if you know your heritage, you can take it further,” he said. “But everything is informed by function and I think that’s right for a brand like Ferragamo.”

The brand has had many iterations and the current one is still being written under new chief executive editor Marco Gobbetti. But this season, Meilland did a good job of bringing Ferragamo into the fashion conversation without being overly referential of the brand’s past.