\n\tIt\u2019s been a rainy Milan fashion week, and Ferragamo took the risk of an open-air show in the courtyard of its Portrait Milano hotel on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
\n\tPhew! While the dark brown carpet was sodden from an earlier downpour and grey clouds hung low, no drops fell on the spring collection, a sultry, soign\u00e9 and lounge-oriented take on the \u201920s, birth decade of the Florentine house.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring his latest trawl through the archives, creative director Maximilian Davis fell upon an image of American actress Lola Todd dressed head-to-toe in leopard \u2013 the coat made from the actual exotic skin \u2013 and a baby leopard crouched beside her.<\/p>\n
\n\tRaised in Manchester, England, by Trinidadian-Jamaican parents, Davis posed the question: Why leopard? <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAt that time, people were importing textiles.. and leathers from Africa, and from the Caribbean, as a sign of wealth and status. And I thought that was quite interesting,\u201d he told a huddle of reporters after the show.<\/p>\n
\n\tDavis also studied American cartoonist John Held Jr., who documented the Jazz Age for many top magazines, depicting women and men kicking up their heels in flapper dresses and Zoot suits respectively.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis is a movement which I really feel connected with, where people were rebelling against society, creating their own spaces, speakeasies, and dressing for themselves \u2013 especially women,\u201d the designer enthused.<\/p>\n
\n\tDavis etched the period with a light hand, employing gossamer and liquid fabrics for his slouchy, shawl-collared tailoring, drop-waist shift dresses and pajama-like ensembles.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe animal spots were rendered as abstract dapples in satin devor\u00e9, while flapper dresses had boudoir airs, melding scalloped satin and airy lace. Glossy mules with sculptural heels finished off the looks.<\/p>\n
\n\tFringe, a surefire signpost of the era, sometimes hung from unusual places like the ribs or the wrists, the latter giving scarecrow vibes.<\/p>\n