Ferrari staged its first runway show on Sunday in the assembly line at the company’s headquarters in Maranello, Italy. Designed by creative director Rocco Iannone featuring men’s and women’s luxury fashion, the company has officially joined the race for drastic brand diversification.

Iannone is a talented designer who first brought attention to his name with a short stint at Pal Zileri where he proved that men’s tailoring can be so much more than a suit. Interestingly, the new Ferrari collection is completely devoid of tailoring and heavy on outerwear. Iannone developed a wide range of high performance fabrics like nylon with a soft touch to execute his human anatomy directed clothes. This means often shoulder, sleeve and collar were all in one and showing off Iannone’s deft pattern cutting. The look was sleek and minimal but what made this a success was the fantastic coloring. Built around the Ferrari colors red and yellow, Iannone made his parkas, rain jackets and bombers take flight by applying a skillful colorist hand with many greens and blues in the mix. Also, his use of Como silk in shirts and dresses with photo collages from Ferrari archival photos impressed. Even Ferrari chairman John Elkann wore one of the silk shirts under his perfectly cut deep blue suit.

Ferrari archive print

Iannone’s cutting skill

Elkann is the architect behind this brand diversification and he added one of the best chefs in the world Massimo Bottura to his line up. Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore worked together with interior designer India Mahdavi to bring back the legendary Ferrari trattoria Cavallino in a completely updated design and with a new Modena menu. 

The trattoria has a look and atmosphere that honors the fabled past of Ferrari with exposed engine blocks or photo walls yet playfully modernizes it for a more contemporary feel. Cavallino looked great, the food was amazing like a Crème Caramel of 36month old Parmigiano Reggiano and one can easily imagine a global roll out of these trattorias. Elkann hosted a dinner after the show where he welcomed Jonathan Ive of Apple design fame and Marc Newson as his guests, which immediately brought to mind how much further this Ferrari brand diversification can go. Curiously absent from the events, was Elkann’s younger brother Lapo who used to spearhead many of Ferrari’s fashion driven projects like Tailor Made.