Ferragamo FW26 presents a new campaign for fall and winter 2026. Creative director Maximilian Davis named it “La Mania Delle Scarpe,” or “The Shoe Obsession.” The faces of the campaign include models Anok Yai and Vittoria Ceretti, alongside new global brand ambassadors Jingyu Huang and Ning Chang. Johnny Dufort photographed the campaign, while Lotta Volkova handled the styling.
At the center of the campaign sits a 1994 sculpture by American artist Willie Cole. Anok Yai sits on it in the images, as though on a throne. The piece consists of thousands of women’s shoes, arranged to form the shape of a chair. According to Cole himself, a single work like this can contain around three thousand pairs.
Ferragamo FW26 and Willie Cole: A Sculptor Who Collects What Others Throw Away
Willie Cole was born in 1955 and today lives and works in New Jersey. For decades, he has worked with discarded objects. Instead of traditional materials, he reaches for steam irons, hair dryers, plastic bottles, and even saxophones. His best known works, however, use women’s shoes, which he assembles into figures and masks inspired by African art. His pieces connect the heritage of the African diaspora with everyday objects of Western consumer culture.
The sculpture featured in the Ferragamo campaign belongs to the collection of the Dutch museum Voorlinden. In 2026, Cole also held his first solo exhibition at New York gallery Sargent’s Daughters, titled “Mind, Body, and Soul.”
Cole compares his practice to jazz. He describes it through the image of a musician who first knows the original melody, before the solo begins. According to him, a solo emerges by rearranging what already exists. He approaches the objects he collects the same way.
When asked about choosing objects, Cole says the objects choose him. He feels drawn to them, an attraction rooted in his desire to transform. What interests him most is an object’s potential, not its original function.
Why women’s shoes specifically? Cole admits that women’s fashion has always interested him more than men’s. He believes shoes carry a distinct attitude and aesthetic beauty. He once had an assistant who could identify the exact occasion behind each pair, from a prom shoe to a wedding shoe.
Today, his work hangs in the collections of both MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In the past, he also collaborated with Comme des Garçons and Tod’s. Ferragamo, then, isn’t his first encounter with the fashion industry.
Lotta Volkova for Ferragamo FW26: The Stylist Behind Vetements and Balenciaga
otta Volkova was born in 1984 in Vladivostok. Today, she lives and works in Paris. She took her name from the Led Zeppelin song “Whole Lotta Love.”
Volkova originally studied photography and fine art at London’s Central Saint Martins. Styling came into the picture only later. She became especially known as a key figure in shaping the visual identity of Vetements, led by Demna Gvasalia. From there, she followed him to Balenciaga as well. Today, she also works regularly with Miu Miu.
Volkova has worked with Ferragamo repeatedly across several seasons. In an earlier campaign for the house, she collaborated with photographer Juergen Teller and creative partner Dovile Drizyte. Maximilian Davis himself describes her as someone who enjoys deconstruction and play, while he personally leans toward simplicity. According to him, that combination creates the right balance.
Ferragamo FW26 and Its Connection to Surrealism
Maximilian Davis has long drawn on Surrealism and Dadaism throughout his collections for Ferragamo. That’s exactly why, in his view, the collaboration with Cole made natural sense. Cole takes everyday objects and alters their form so they feel strange, yet remain instantly recognizable.
Ferragamo FW26: Shoes as Sculpture
The connection between fashion and sculpture runs deep at Ferragamo. Salvatore Ferragamo himself, during his Hollywood years, approached footwear as both an engineering and artistic problem. He invented the wedge heel and experimented with unconventional materials, including cork and raffia.
The campaign also revisits another long-running visual theme of the house: women surrounded by an abundance of shoes. This motif has appeared in Ferragamo’s archive since the era of classic Hollywood.
