Prêt-à-porter Donna
Spring/Summer
“Sinuous yet ironic, serious yet teasing, with a glimmer of humour… I should like to say ‘welcome back’ to this woman for whom I have designed the collection. She has been my accomplice in travel, she has shared discoveries of climates and colours, she has been enthralled by the same adventures. She is free and knowledgeable… and she enjoys shuffling the cards. She has a vagabond taste in mixing pieces and ‘objets trouvés’, which she learnt to appreciate in India or Africa – but, in a sense, filtered”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1984
The lightness. Almost a programmatic statement: against everything that is rigid, heavy, stiff. Gauzes are airy, shantung is impalpable, wool crepoline is extremely fine (though the hand, deceptively, suggests substance), doubleface crêpe de chine imitates a mannish stripe effect, featherweight gabardine, unlined, is joined to silky shirt-weight nappa.
And in the use of colour, memories of travel and free interpretations – such as shades of dusty blue, or blue blended with stone grey and violet. The ranges of putty. Fuchsia, orange, coral in the cool tones of vegetable-dyed silks.
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Prêt-à-porter Donna
Fall/Winter
“Each thing in its place: everything is just what it seems. The coat is a real coat, the blue jacket a real blue jacket, the caban a real caban. No winks, no illusions. No attempts to hide, transform, disguise… for example, certain trench coats, certain coats have exactly the same base as spring overcoats – only reinforced to withstand winter. Thus, style becomes more purified and clear, detoxifying”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1984
The chromatic range. Brown (as black declined for daytime), from pale cappuccino to coffee-with-milk to roasted coffee. Always dark or natural when it comes to leather or suede. Sugar and cream. Misty blue paired with coal black or with icy brown. A veil of cold vapour chills the nuances. Silver, a touch of gold. The sudden stop of incandescent red.
The cleanness. An elongated silhouette – fluid, dynamic. Prominent but lean shoulders. A defined waist, dropped slightly lower, often emphasised by robe-style knotted belts.
The gesture. The gesture of closing in, of covering oneself against the chill by lifting the collar lapels, drawing the fastening tight. Very urban gestures for city coats: the true Chesterfield with its velvet collar; the suede bathrobe-coat with honey-coloured teddy collar; the Bogart-style waterproof in blue cotton poplin with brown trim, or in the classic distressed white. Unusual gestures: knotting the lapels of jackets or letting them dangle casually inside – like real scarves.
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