Prêt-à-porter Uomo
Spring/Summer
“A rigorous and coherent collection. A homogeneous choice of quality. A rich, complete collection responding to all the needs of the male wardrobe through a series of flexible proposals, to be read as a confirmation of the simplicity, elementariness and research that define Ferré Menswear; to be re-read in search of an underlying, unifying thread linking certain moods: the early twentieth-century seaman, the colonial spirit, the 1930s summer in the city. Presences that do not contradict one another, atmospheres that are recognisable even when only hinted at, because they belong to the tradition of masculine elegance”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1989
Definition of a men’s wardrobe by typologies, resemblances, assonances and consequences.
Formal. Crêpe fabrics. Natural opalescent silks. Fine iridescent gabardines. Structured linens, lined, in the English tailoring tradition. Cotton and silk poplins.
Casual. Wool and cotton reps. Wool and cotton gabardines. Substantial blends of viscose and wool. Worked pekary. Fuller volumes for both trousers and shirts. Soft jackets, almost deconstructed. Fabrics of different weights combined in monochrome.
Sport. Comfort and absence of ostentation, with a faint taste for what is lived-in and recovered — interior and intellectual, already experienced. Cashmere and lambswool hand-joined. Cotton tricot in patchworks of stitches. Light cotton organdis for shirts. Oxford cloth used from shirts to jackets to bermudas. Windbreakers in lambswool combined with Bemberg. Featherweight suede coated with rubber; natural pekary joined with flat seams.
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Prêt-à-porter Uomo
Fall/Winter
“What I have prepared is a canonical wardrobe. A constant series that has now reached its own classification. I have redefined the theme of tailoring through rules fixed over time within the Ferré tradition, but I have gone further, refining the idea of ease and deconstruction. There is also a deliberate eccentric touch, one that escapes the categories by which it is usually defined. More than snobbery, I would describe it as a mental reordering of what has always existed in menswear”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1989
Around tradition. Garments labelled “sartorial”, with precise, defined proportions and the accurate fit typical of ready-to-wear. Yet with largely hand-finished details and important fabrics: cashmere, camelhair, alpaca. Double-face pieces express a modern taste for mixing different spirits: cashmere blends washed to become more fluid, and crêpe fabrics synonymous with a light, agile hand.
At the origin of the line. Garments that are soft yet substantial, without rigidity. A recovery of the spartan, rustic comfort inherent in Harris tweeds, irregular mélanges and brushed mohairs. Re-energised by a uniform-like spirit, made up of flannels and meltons ranging from smoky grey to anthracite, of vyella and grey Harris. One nuance laid over another, interpreting that relaxed elegance typical of well-travelled Englishmen.
Mixing unexpected notes. Allusions to Anatolia and Persian carpets in fused and blended knitwear; in patchworks with rusty tones reminiscent of old trunks, kilims rolled up for generations, ancient book bindings. A nostalgic rigour in voile evening shirts. Or in shirts of silk crêpe at the front and cotton at the back. Or in pleated crêpe de chine, supported at the back by vyella.
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