(NEW YORK) Last night Salvatore Ferragamo premiered the full-length version of their 30 minute short film, Walking Stories, directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and starring Kaya Scodelario. The brand had previously been releasing the film in segments on their website. The flick follows the adventures of a Ferragamo-clad heroine as she makes her way through Florence, Los Angeles, and Shanghai, and stars other up-and-coming actors like Nathalie Buscombe, Lee Roy Kunz, and Billy Magnussen alongside the iconic Lauren Hutton.
Guests like Grace Coddington, Sophie Auster, Anya Ziourova, Garrett Neff, Jessica Hart, and Olivia Palermo joined W‘s Stefano Tonchi, who hosted the event, for a screening of the film at Neuehouse, the exclusive and private creative workspace on East 25th Street. Turns out, Tonchi and Guadagnino are old friends. “I was there when he was doing a lot of projects in Rome and then he did I Am Love, which starred Tilda [Swinton] and there was also Raf [Simons], who did the clothing. It was a fantastic project!” said Tonchi. “I saw this project that he did with Ferragamo and I was very impressed. I thought that it was a very cute short film that deserved to be seen on a big screen. That is why I wanted to do this little celebration tonight, for him!” So are short films the new commercials for fashion brands? “I think that telling a story is a little more timeless. It’s a very interesting trend. There are more and more brands that are using film to tell a story,” said Tonchi. “It’s a fantastic way to make people understand what the brand is about. You can see a very nice way to talk about the love for your shoes; a love story that starts with shoes and ends with shoes can be very nice.”
As for shooting a short film based around a brand, Guadagnino didn’t feel the pressure to sell. “The collaboration was pretty fantastic, I didn’t feel that I was narrowed into the necessity to sell something. In fact, Walking Stories is just a little movie,” said Guadagnino. “It’s a short movie that tells a story that’s universal and funny, but is also embodied and dressed by the Ferragamo house.” The film took the crew to three very different cities to shoot, filled with cultural adventures. “In L.A., you walk a certain way, you have a huge crew, and everything is very precise and spot-on. In Italy, everything was creatively confusing and late. In Shanghai, I couldn’t understand the language, but we instantly understood each other,” said Guadagnino. The result of all the hard work? A lighthearted film that’s positively bellisima!
PAIGE REDDINGER
