Salvatore Ferragamo Fall / Winter 2018

MILAN — Where there is flux, there is uncertainty. The present state of the fashion industry, which is in no way monolithic, makes once reliable ports of call on the ready-to-wear calendar anything but. Salvatore Ferragamo has long been a bastion of stability, but since the 2016 departure of erstwhile creative director Massimiliano Giornetti, the sands have been shifting underneath the luxury goods maker. Last season’s showing by Fulvio Rigoni was unconvincing, which made Sunday ’s Fall / Winter 2018 combined women’s and men’s runway show an intriguing double bill, not least for the chance it would provide to see newly promoted womenswear creative director Paul Andrew’s work alongside his men’s counterpart Guillaume Meilland. The good news is that it all came off! The pair worked from the same color and materials palette to create a strong and unified statement for fall. The chic staging was the first hint. The runway followed a maze like grid of interconnected color paneled rooms. Next, a runway score by music maestro Michel Gaubert set the tone with Terrence Trent D’Arby’s “Sign Your Name” chosen as the prevailing theme. Finally, a strong casting that that featured 13 models from across the Next global network including Grace Hartzel, Katlin Aas, Hiandra Martinez, Oumar Diouf, Binx Walton, Oumie Jammeh, Eniola Abioro, Rocio Marconi, Manu Miloqui, Bogdan Zbyrko, Selena Forrest, Bakay Diaby, and Piero Méndez meant none of these efforts would be lost in translation on the runw