For Pre-Fall 2025, Ferragamo opens a new chapter that pays tribute to its historic connection with Hollywood cinema. The campaign, directed by celebrated Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, marks the first installment in a three-part film project produced at Cinecittà, the legendary Roman studio often referred to as Italy’s Hollywood. The choice of setting signals a deliberate return to the house’s cinematic roots, tracing back to founder Salvatore Ferragamo’s early fame as the “shoemaker to the stars.”
PRE-FALL 2025
Salvatore Ferragamo famously designed footwear for screen legends like Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe, while also outfitting epic productions by Cecil B. DeMille. This legacy serves as the foundation for the Pre-Fall 2025 campaign, as current creative director Maximilian Davis continues to combine fashion and film. “We wanted to create a story that felt very Italian but was based around Hollywood cinema,” Davis explains. He cites Rohrwacher’s distinct sensibility, her ability to filter nostalgia with current sensibilities, as key to capturing the essence of the project.
Chapter One, titled L’Appuntamento, sets the tone with a playful nod to the rituals of film production. Angelina Kendall stars as a modern-day screen siren preparing for her moment under the lights. The camera captures fragments of her transformation: powder being applied to her face, a Ferragamo Gancini slingback buffed to perfection, a handbag snatched in rhythm with the clapperboard’s crack. It’s an ode to glamour staged with self-aware charm.
Rohrwacher, known for her poetic and lightly surreal cinematic language, presents the fashion pieces not simply as props but as central characters. The accessories, especially the pumps, take on narrative weight. “When you look into the archive, the pumps are some of the most iconic Ferragamo creations,” notes Davis. “And so, we wanted to present them as part of the making of the movie star: a playful, almost ironic way of presenting elegance.”
Visually, the campaign leans into the textures of vintage studio production. The lighting echoes the softness of mid-century cinematography, while the mise-en-scène, a makeup table here, a wardrobe rack there, evokes the backstage intimacy of a film set. The clothes and accessories are framed as active tools in the process of performance, emphasizing craftsmanship and transformation.
As Chapter One launches, anticipation builds for the remaining segments of the campaign, each promising further exploration of Ferragamo’s dialogue with cinema. By embracing a serialized narrative and placing its heritage in the context of contemporary Italian filmmaking, the house positions Pre-Fall 2025 as a collection shaped by story, character, and craft.
