Prêt-à-porter Donna
Spring/Summer
“I have taken the liberty of approaching ‘classical’ dressing. A double freedom: that of the woman who appropriates it, and mine, in re-reading it by seeking vivacity and slenderness in proportions and in the way pieces are combined, overlaid, joined. There is a classical sense even in colour – which does not necessarily mean navy – but a certain way of pairing vivid hues. I have also firmly reaffirmed continuity of style, reworking concepts through a contemporary lens. Underscoring that constant of tailoring and construction which determines the quality of the garment. All of this in the key to absolute femininity”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1988
Welcome back to the ironic flair of 1930s gagà social elegance. With tiny spencers over an organza shirt whose back – in respect of linear fluidity – is made in the same fabric as the jacket. With intriguing trails of organza and georgette: scarves, long-tailed knots, foulards. With sashes wrapped several times around the waist for a vague bustier effect.
Welcome red and turquoise, white touched with black, the porcelain blue of the sky in Sidi Bou Said – in matte, airy, crisp fabrics such as silk gazar.
Welcome the subtle thrill of nautical symbols and allusions – anchors, shells, Capri dots and stripes, stars – enlarged, transformed, turned into lace bas-reliefs or used as prints.
Warmly welcomed, too, the invented, improvised jewellery: gold or black-lacquered shells to pin on jackets; shells embroidered in relief on stretch georgette shirts like a modern macramé; the oversized brass pin to fasten sleeves and necklines, or to adorn a leather blouson.
EXCERPT FROM THE COLLECTION PRESS RELEASE
Prêt-à-porter Donna
Fall/Winter
“Two moods surface in this collection, two desires that seem opposed yet reveal subterranean points of contact. The need for limpidity, for an elementary precision of contours, and the desire for an unexpected flicker. A touch of childish coquetry, a languor that seems to rise from a dream, the memory of old fairy tales – for a sense of play, to affirm a freedom of taste and inspiration. Indeed, never as today does the image seem so swift, soft, lively. Clear”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1988
Elementary shapes, but with a flicker of youthful coquetry. Always the white blouse, always the candour of a cuff, the blossoming of a collar; always the touch of an embroidered pochette.
The handkerchief peeping from the breast pocket becomes lace; lace becomes a jacket – black and rubberised – or grows so large as to turn into a train. A dandy flair for the jacket resembling a long tailcoat.
Each shape has its fabric, each fabric its canonical colour. Alpaca, ultrasoft sheepskin, cashmere range from butter to caramel. Combed wools, gazar and satin shine in tones of red; and unfailing, recurrent, black, navy and white.
There are elaborate techniques in this collection. Cotton and viscose velvet are washed to obtain creases and crumples; lace is immersed in rubber. Fabrics are doubled; iridescent taffeta is bonded.
To achieve the surprising effect of a dreamlike elegance, immersed in a kind of enchantment.
EXCERPT FROM THE COLLECTION PRESS RELEASE
