Andrew says the collaboration process sharpened his understanding of the difference between designing for comfort versus visual impact. The colour palette was directly derived from the costumes found in Hitchcock’s films, and while he was drawn to the neutral-hued pieces of his work, for example, Guadagnino preferred the “saturated and juicy hues” of lemon or cherry, envisioning how they might pop on camera.

“I truly consider him one of the most important film directors working right now,” says Andrew of Guadagnino. “The way he would angle the camera or linger on a fabric and zoom in onto it—it’s this voyeurism that you have as a movie director, and I started thinking about that as I design my collections and how that’s going to be seen by the outside world.”

Andrew began as Ferragamo’s design director of women’s footwear four years ago and was promoted to creative director in 2019. His aesthetic is in many ways a product of his apprenticeships under Alexander McQueen and Calvin Klein, where he learned construction and restraint, and then under Donna Karan, where he absorbed the importance of wearability. But fabric and quality is in his blood—his father was the upholsterer for the royal family, which meant Andrew spent much of his childhood on the grounds of Windsor Castle.

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“I’m obsessed with The Crown, I even referenced it a few seasons ago,” says Andrew, giddy as he recounts the shows he’s binge-watched over the holidays. He’s a fan of season four, when Princess Diana was introduced, portrayed by Emma Corrin, but he’s particularly excited that Elizabeth Debicki will play the older princess next season. Andrew took Debicki to the 2019 Met Gala, dressing her in a stunning blush gown, adorned with an enormous bow in the front and styled with long, white gloves. “I have a lot of images of Diana on my inspiration boards here because she famously carried a Ferragamo purse we call the Lady D bag internally.”

Every Monday he and his design team would come into the studio, where they’d engage in animated conversation over the Netflix or Amazon Video shows they’d seen over the weekend, which would inevitably spark ideas, proving to Andrew that Hollywood indeed continues to hold sway over fashion. For his next collection, to be shown this month, I asked Andrew, who was wary of spoilers, to drop hints in the form of movie recommendations. “I’m thinking of the future, but in the context of the past,” he says cryptically. “I’ve been watching Wings of Desire, Blade Runner and Gattaca.” They each evoke a dystopian world, not unlike the one we’re living in, I point out. “Yes, but watch them again and you’ll see how beautiful they all actually are,” he says. “It’s the same with the Hitchcock movies—there’s always a hidden danger that is pronounced in his films, but ultimately there’s a happy ending. We are living in such a surreal moment too, and I’d love that that might be our reality.”

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