Prêt-à-porter Donna
Spring/Summer
“When I imagine a woman for my collection, she has the look, the smile, the languid abandon of Ava Gardner in ‘Mocambo’. Velvety eyes and inky eyebrows, tempestuous hair and emerald earrings. I imagine, above all, a personality – not only a precise face. A strong-willed, energetic allure, a deep, slightly throaty voice.
I have chosen straight lines, basic colours, classic themes; an absolute severity to satisfy the most complicated characters. I also think of an atmosphere, a tropical landscape – Mexico, perhaps, or Haiti. It is a feeling, a sum of impressions. Scents, spices, cocoa and rum. Tobacco. And a panama hat to shade the face.”
Gianfranco Ferré
1983
Raw silk, silk charmeuse, heavy silk satin, silk shantung: to double the front of a grisaille jacket; for the dress printed with huge tobacco leaves, with exaggerated sleeves rising from a slim hip; for the blouse-dress loosely touching the waist; for the tuxedo – sleeved or sleeveless – with asymmetrical drapery; for tuxedo trousers, a bundle of pressed pleats in place of the glossy sideband.
Soft, velvety suede: for the wide, straight farmer’s overall; for the generous blouson resting on the hips; for the deeply plunging maillots; for the rag-skirt with its matting-style adjustable belt.
Primitive, natural colours of dry, sun-baked earth: cocoa-seed brown, roasted brown, white, skimmed-milk white, sugarcane brown, black. Tones of berries and fruits: bilberry, blackberry juice, leaf green – always cut through with dark, intense, almost nocturnal shades.
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Prêt-à-porter Donna
Fall/Winter
“The play of opposites… light and shadow, Yin and Yang, man and woman… overturning, mixing, subverting the rule in order to discover the principle that created it… hence using the typical fabrics of the male wardrobe, with all their formal tradition, for women’s dress – without even a hint of austerity or severity. And shifting those of women towards an increasingly austere line. Rebuilding the classic elements of clothing – skirt, blazer, dress – as a recurring theme… imagining, for this woman who evolves, new rules of seduction. Hollywood criteria denied, the neckline moving to the back. Wrists and forearms in view. High, closed collars (modesty? Challenge?)”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1983
Rediscovered functions for a redesigned figure: the pale-blue fil à fil shirt in Eton style with a grey vicuña skirt; the flannel jacket doubled in college colours – ruby, grey, blue – the Prince of Wales bordered with silk ottoman for the evening trouser; the soft, washed whites of gabardine; grey as the new black. And taffeta doubles the angora niki, grisaille is doubled with gold, facecloth is doubled with flannel, the fabric itself is doubled: everything is different from what it seems.
Flashes of light: glossy fabrics next to matte surfaces, black patent shoes, an ultra-long belt – in patent leather – to knot and let fall freely, marking movement.
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