Exclusive first look Salvatore Ferragamo at the new Spring Summer 2017 Men’s collection, debuting on the runway tomorrow in Milan.
By Miles Socha
How to reinvent the suit? It’s a question that’s been hanging over the spring season and Salvatore Ferragamo offered multiple propositions. There was everything from belted, short-sleeved leisure suits and blousons to variations on safari and shirt jackets — all in typical tailoring fabrics, some a tad fussy. In general, these alternatives to the two-button standard looked better over trimmer trousers than billowing, lustrous Eighties pants.
 This was the first men’s collection since the exit of creative director Massimiliano Giornetti, and the design team decided on a camping theme peppered with primitive art motifs, mostly brooches and scarf prints in colorful Jean Arp blobs.
 The collection had its moments and a slightly younger spirit, with scout-leader ensembles laden with giant backpacks, some dangling a tin cup. Utility pockets knocked the preciousness out of trim two-button suits in silk, a ubiquitous fabric this Milan season, also employed for handsome shirts — another plausible alternative to a jacket.
 The models whizzed trough the stock exchange venue so quickly that some of the craftsmanship was lost on the audience. Backstage, a member of the design team pointed to a blouson in a foliage print assembled from 100,000 hand-cut leather triangles. Each takes 290 hours to make. That’s almost two weeks of camping.
