TRADITION is still at the core of the Salvatore Ferragamo brand, according to its accessories head, Fulvia Ferragamo. She was here to show off the brand's Spring/Summer 2008 accessories collection on Tuesday. Singapore was the first place in Asia to see the line.

'We do carry certain lines that are core to our business, which we repeat every season,' Mrs Ferragamo said. 'We change the colours on them, maybe some of the details, and use different fabric.'

The first long-lived Ferragamo product that comes to mind is the classic bow-decorated Vara shoe, which has been around since 1978, and sure enough, Mrs Ferragamo pointed to it as something that will be getting a mild facelift.

'Next year, for Spring/Summer, one very hot thing is our Vara shoe, our classic shoe with the bow that we can't stop producing because everybody wants one,' she said. 'A couple of years ago, we had a new version of it with a thinner heel that was very successful, and next year we're going to have a flat ballerina with a bow, in many colours.'

But coming back to accessories, what's new with silk scarves, which are close to Mrs Ferragamo's heart? Again, it's a matter of evolution rather than revolution.

'The 90 cm scarf always has to be thick silk printed with many designs,' she said. 'But we have others that are tone on tone, and different colours. We play with our signature, whether it's the whole Ferragamo name or our symbol. We also have solid colours for cashmere, silk and velvet. So we work with material, technique and colour to try and create something new.'

Ties aren't really a feature of the latest accessories collection, but it is interesting to see how Mrs Ferragamo viewed ties in men's fashion, taking into account the movement against ties and the rise of alternatives such as Shanghai Tang's mandarin collars. 'All around the world, there is a little current going against ties. But we make ties for men who still want a tie,' she said. 'I must tell you that that's still a large portion of the world, which is fortunate since we still love our ties. Another thing is that men in history have never had bare necks,' Mrs Ferragamo said.

'We are doing a few parallel accessories to ties, like necklaces and oblongs of cloth you just loosely tie across the neck for men who don't want to wear ties.'

The trend in ties is moving towards a narrower width, which Mrs Ferragamo has always loved. 'One particular thing about our ties is that if you look at a tie, it will look quite normal, but when you go nearer, you discover the details such as animals or patterns,' she said. 'We also have fashionable colours. A few years ago we had burgundy, red, blue, yellow and green. Now we even have pink, purple and brown.'

Colour are a strange thing though, Mrs Ferragamo said, and they come in and out of fashion at unpredictable intervals, though when a particular colour's time is near, she can 'feel it in the air'.

For Singapore's hot and humid weather, Mrs Ferragamo definitely thought that silk is the most appropriate shawl and scarf material, even though Ferragamo uses other materials too. 'The colours in silk look beautiful under light. Maybe at night in air conditioning, you might want a shawl to be a bit warmer.'

But there's no prescribing a particular type of shawl for women, nor a strict way of wearing one. 'Shawls are a very personal item for a woman,' she said. 'It's important for a woman to know what kind of shawl suits her. It's important for a woman to be comfortable and feel like herself when she dresses up. But personally, I prefer something long and rectangular so you can wrap it around twice and feel protected, plus it's also more formal that way.'