73FOR MAXIMILIAN DAVIS, FASHION
isn’t just a career choice—it’s part of
his family legacy. In his Trinidadian-
Jamaican family in Manchester,
England, his sister and mother modeled,
and his father studied fashion design.
When he was 6, his grandmother taught
him to sew on her industrial machine.
“I was always surrounded by people that
were constantly creating,” he says.
This foundation proved crucial this
spring when Davis, 27, was named cre-
ative director of Salvatore Ferragamo,
the 95-year-old Italian luxury label
known for its shoes and leather goods.
Davis’ appointment signaled a new
chapter for the establishment brand and
an industry beset by racism that has few
Black executives.
In 2017, Davis graduated from the
London College of Fashion and started
working as a junior designer with mens-
wear designer Grace Wales Bonner. His
work is characterized by sharp tailoring
and bold silhouettes, rendered with an
elegant sensuality. Davis celebrates his
culture and identity through his design:
his first collection for his personal label,
Maximilian, debuted in fall 2020 in
the wake of a reckoning with systemicracism. Inspired by Trinidad’s Carnival,
Davis presented a thoughtful narrative
about Blackness: “It was a collection
that had a different outlook on people
of color,” he says. “I wanted to present
them in a very elegant and sophisticated
way, rather than this negative context.”
Past collections have paid homage
to his grandmother’s “Sunday best”
looks for church and family trips to
Trinidad. “I think the best collections
are the personal ones where people
can feel a part of the story,” he says.
“If they can relate to something, it
always translates.”