Prêt-à-porter Donna
Spring/Summer
“I feel a need for energy – a vibrant energy that generates optimism. I feel a need for reality and for a sense of our times. And at the same time, a desire to dream. Without glancing back at a too-recent past, of which I see returning only the most vulgar and showy aspects. Instead, I dream of intense emotions, total encounters with water, wind and sand. A nature that transforms matter and adds physicality to fabrics. Because I am searching for effects of transparency that enhance the body in a poetic or purely sporty sense”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1991
Swept by a cloud of sand, clothes become sporty, camouflaged, light and airborne. Nylon tricots lined with organza, pullovers dusted with polynosic grains like the fine powder covering a wet swimsuit. Strong, well-constructed safari jackets. Parachute-canvas trousers.
A gust of wind, a cloud of sand. Like a dream, the imprint of a thousand grains remains on the dress, tracing the curve of the bust, the voluptuousness of the hip.
Transformed, alchemical, invented materials. Lycra dusted with leather and catalysed. Fabrics that appear mineral, vegetal, like wood or marble. Iridescent lycra and taffeta pigmented in brocade effects. Lustrous lingerie silk. Duchesse and shantung. Raw silk in buttery, creamy tones. Double, firm satins.
Colours and graphics. The abstract chromaticism of neutrals – sand, earth, blue – dense colours or those with magical, powdery reflections of ancient metals. White-and-black organza graphics with the sheen of onyx. Mother-of-pearl iridescence: button embroideries, encrustations on designs and prints. The Oriental explosion of pink, saffron, bougainvillea and jasmine.
Excerpt from the collection press release
Prêt-à-porter Donna
Fall/Winter
“British humour, with that divine touch of eccentricity typical of the masculine turned feminine, of rules pushed to such extremes that they become exceptions, of an adventurous spirit that nevertheless preserves an inner sense of form. A way of dressing that is highly urban and civilised, yet ironic at the same time, playing on contrasts and references. Because designing a collection, for me, also means drawing from a constant heritage of forms and consolidating the classic Ferré lexicon: the white shirt, the black redingote, the white piqué or red beaver ascot… each time immersed in a different dream”.
Gianfranco Ferré
1991
The clarity of form: rounded, naturally supported, or close to the body. With occasional hints of an elongated silhouette.
The compact layer of colour: red and black with touches of white. Ferré Red that blends, thins out, becomes an almost fluorescent pink.
The transformation of fabrics and patterns through a magical magnifying lens that exaggerates and enlarges such as the overchecks of men’s coats laid over a chenille net that creates a chevron effect.
The alchemical mixture of materials and nuances, of garments and forms: ruches like crests; pheasant feathers for the sleeves of a dress with almost imperceptible polka dots. The pleated nylon shawl that, over a T-shirt, transforms into the ruche of a fairytale animal. Point d’esprit like a gentle spotted motif; tulle feathers on the grey dress. Like pheasants and turtledoves in an imaginary aviary.
Excerpt from the collection press release