Finest Hour

The creative director of Ferragamo on spearheading the grand Italian house, keeping the spirit of innovation alive, and how he stays modern, always.

- Natasha Kraal

Standing next to a super-luxe tan leather bomber jumpsuit, Paul Andrew is on-point about his creative vision. “My approach to moving Ferragamo forward is really the opposite of what other luxury houses are doing,” says the creative director of the Italian heritage house. “Hoodies and T-shirts, jeans and sneakers with the brand’s logo emblazoned all over—that’s not luxurious, not high fashion. My approach for Ferragamo is very different. It’s about keeping that ease and the wearability in the clothes but making it very elevated.”

Andrew is on top form this crisp spring morning in Tokyo, at the Ba-Tsu art gallery in Shibuya, where he’s presenting the Ferragamo Autumn/Winter ’19 collection to a legion of regional editors. This is his third collection for the 91-year-old Florentine fashion label; he joined in 2016 as the head of women’s shoes, given his incredible success with his eponymous shoe label that he founded in 2012, and was appointed to oversee both men’s and women’s collections in 2018. He brings his cool British sensibility, love for leather and sumptuous fabrics, and great eye for colour and characterization to his work. “She’s woken up in the morning in her silk pyjamas … she’s gone outside to get her coffee so she’s thrown on her double-faced cashmere coat and her rhinestone shoes from the night before to go to Starbucks,” he describes precisely that look on his muse, the “relaxed, empowered woman”.