On Thursday afternoon, downtown Manhattan bore witness to the high-octane intersection of Italian automotive luxury and New York City street culture as Ferrari descended upon the Jack Shainman Gallery. The occasion marked the official staging of the Ferrari Style spring 2027 collection, masterminded by Creative Director Rocco Iannone. The high-energy runway presentation served as a vibrant celebration of his latest design vision, which debuted in tandem with the grand opening of the brand’s brand-new flagship store in SoHo, cementing a major retail and cultural milestone for the luxury house in the United States.
Inside the gallery space, an eclectic and star-studded front row gathered on custom benches featuring plush, padded leather cushions. The seating arrangements were artfully positioned amidst a backdrop of large-scale, colorful custom silk tapestries. Crafted by the renowned textile house Rubelli, these striking visual installations displayed some of Ferrari’s most iconic and celebrated magazine and promotional covers spanning from the 1930s through the 1990s, bridging the historical heritage of the automotive giant with contemporary fashion narratives. Among the notable attendees taking in the spectacle were Swizz Beatz, Diane von Furstenberg, Lux Pascal, Natalia Dyer, and Alioune Badara Fall, alongside other figures from the worlds of art, fashion, and entertainment.
Speaking backstage ahead of the presentation, Iannone elaborated on the aesthetic ethos driving the brand’s ready-to-wear division and how it translates the visceral feeling of driving a Ferrari into wearable art.
"Ferrari is not a minimalist brand. If you see the cars, they are made of voluptuous volumes and concealed lines," Iannone explained regarding his vibrant, graphic, and texturally rich collection. "It’s not about mimicking the design language [of Ferrari] into [the Ferrari Style] clothes, but it’s to infuse the design language into the collection. It’s a bold brand. Bold, mainstream and pop, and I wanted to do all those to bring all those elements together to create this collection."
Staying true to his concise yet impactful vision, Iannone’s tight, 38-look lineup was titled “Crafting Identities.” The collection was chock-full of intriguing craftsmanship fueled by innovative new techniques and high-end materials. This approach played directly into his overall strategy of blending New York archetypes with the foundational Ferrari look of sharp tailoring paired with sporty elements, delivered through a mix of atelier-made, exclusive pieces and accessible ready-to-wear. In addition to the runway presentation, the brand is rolling out an exclusive capsule collection in partnership with Swizz Beatz, available specifically at the new SoHo flagship and select New York locations.
The cross-cultural dialogue between the Italian marque and the American metropolis was a central theme of the afternoon. "The collection is hugely inspired by the connection with Ferrari and New York, and with the vibes I got coming here for many, many weeks," Iannone noted ahead of the show. "We also have a very strong connection between Ferrari, cinema and music, and here in New York there is a very beautiful music community that is strongly in touch with Ferrari, from Travis Scott to Kendrick Lamar."
This deep-rooted connection to contemporary music culture was palpable in the show’s bumping soundtrack, which seamlessly blended Kendrick Lamar’s hard-hitting track “N95” with alternative and indie anthems from the Smashing Pumpkins, Frank Ocean, and other genre-defining artists.
The dynamic energy of the soundtrack reverberated directly through the garments themselves. Standout pieces included glossy burgundy leather ensembles featuring intricate, hand-painted details that caught the gallery lights. Ferrari’s signature, world-famous red hue emerged head-to-toe through a dynamic mix of elevated workwear, athletic wear, and precisely tailored jackets and trousers. Meanwhile, denim cords designed for both men and women featured striking dégradé effects, transitioning smoothly from spongy yarn textures into a continuation of his textural printed leather “turtle” effect, eventually melting into full-on denim enriched in sun-drenched hues of yellow, neutral browns, and deep blacks.
Embracing an animalia motif—which Iannone described as an intentional ode to the "urban jungle"—the collection pushed the boundaries of craft and innovation. This manifested through jacquard white-on-white tailoring, delicate feathered tassel embroideries, and sophisticated pony leather layers laser-cut with bold leopard motifs, strikingly modeled by Adriana Lima as she walked the runway.
In a playful reimagining of American style tropes, Iannone riffed on familiar vernacular staples. The baseball cap, which happens to be a proven bestseller for the brand, was reinterpreted in perforated leather accented with intricate knotted rope details. The classic white T-shirt was exaggerated with voluminous, rolled-up sleeves or cleverly twisted into seductive leather dresses featuring low-dipped backs. Even the humble, spongy white athletic sock was elevated, ingeniously transformed into sleek heeled sock boots. Subtly woven into the accessories was a patriotic nod, with the red, white, and blue hues of the American flag bedazzled onto a bespoke Ferrari tailor-made clutch shaped precisely after the silhouette of the legendary Ferrari Daytona of Maranello.
Beyond urban sportswear and automotive cues, Iannone also peppered the collection with artistic inspirations drawn from the legacies of Robert Mapplethorpe and Jean-Michel Basquiat. These influences were most notably visible in the stark casting and styling choices, which juxtaposed bare-faced models with glammed-up counterparts. His direct nods to Basquiat’s colorful, expressive artworks stood out prominently in the form of three-dimensional knit track layers adorned with graphic, allover poppy embroideries. According to the atelier, these intricate embroideries were constructed using an impressive six different types of yarns, beautifully showcased when styled as a baggy rollover pant paired with a sportif bodysuit or worn underneath a structured jacket paired with a sleek leather pencil skirt.
"Every single material of this collection has something special and is very rich in terms of craftsmanship," Iannone reflected, summarizing the philosophy behind the season’s output. "This is why we call this collection ‘Crafting Identities.’ To build up your identity, you must craft it day by day, year by year. And if you live in New York, I think this process is very important because it’s a city where to come up, you must craft your identity."
