Some of fashion’s most lasting ideas start with an accident. In 1978, Fiamma Ferragamo left a grosgrain bow on a prototype pump — and never took it off. The rounded toe, low block heel and that little ribbon detail became Vara, a shoe that’s been part of the house’s identity ever since.
Fiamma Paternò Castello di San Giuliano for Ferragamo in Vara Bow shoes.
Ferragamo
Last week, Ferragamo returned to the shape it never really left behind. The Vara bow, a fixture of the house for nearly 50 years, sits at the center of its latest campaign — a quiet acknowledgment of a design that has outlasted trend cycles for nearly five decades.
Hyeri Lee in a mary jane silhouette of the Vara Bow.
Ferragamo
The Vara’s defining codes remain unchanged: a sensible heel, softly structured toe box and the grosgrain bow finished with a small gold plaque. The shoe has moved fluidly through fashion eras, first embraced as a practical but polished pump and later evolving into an entire family of silhouettes — including the Varina flat introduced in 2007, the Vanna ballet flat style, slingbacks, mary janes and sandal iterations.
The bow has extended beyond footwear, appearing across Ferragamo’s bags, belts and jewelry across limited-edition runs and runways. It’s even played a part in Ferragamo’s fragrance lines, like with 2012’s Signorina Fragrance.
Paloma Elsesser showing off a pump variation of Ferragamo’s Vara Bow.
Ferragamo
This season’s “Vara Bow” campaign reframes the signature for a global audience. A cast of women from different generations and creative backgrounds — Bianca Balti, Fiamma Paternò Castello di San Giuliano, Paloma Elsesser and Hyeri Lee — interpret the shoe through their own style lens, photographed in Milan, New York and Seoul. Giovanna Gentile Ferragamo, Fiamma’s sister, also makes a brief appearance.
Bianca Balti modeling the slingback iteration of the Vara Bow by Ferragamo.
Ferragamo
Each woman wears a different style — from the classic pump and mary jane to the 55mm slingback and 95mm sandal. The campaign isn’t about rewriting Vara so much as it is about showing how the same bow lands in different scenarios and personalities.
What began in 1978 as a practical shoe with a ribbon pulled from an atelier scrap pile is now shorthand for Ferragamo itself. By centering the bow rather than rewriting it, the house positions Vara not as a relic, but as a living code, one that continues to shape wardrobes and the brand’s own identity nearly 50 years on.