Gianfranco Ferré.
Il segno della moda

Gianfranco Ferré takes his method from his study of architecture, an art which pivots on and ensues from drawing, finds in drawing its means for giving shape to ideas, substance to distinct insights, a way to "set impressions down concretely in sketch form".

The exhibition aims to retrace an intellectual path, the evolution of an inner world built on study and research, cultural and design synthesis, so that it will continue to play the role of testament and mental stimulus. In this particular context, drawing emerges significantly as an expression of freedom and rigour, creativity and method, yet at the same time a work tool, an everyday exercise, a mode of thought and a concrete approach. Above all, a work method.

Gianfranco Ferré's drawings encapsulate his entire inner universe, for all while promptly defining the compass points of the human body – shoulders, waist, legs – they also capture the designer's interests, passions and personality. And this is clear even to people who know little or nothing about fashion.

His constant inventiveness develops into signs on paper, into stunning silhouettes that with a few quick lines in soft-tip pen evoke a dynamic figure, often fixed in place thanks to pencil marks, sparkles and gold glints (possibly using tin foil or glitter dust), or that create images of clothes as splotches of color, calligraphic entanglements, explosive lines, or as the synthesis of a highly textural detail. What's so striking about Ferré is the utter precision of details, even in the simplest of sketches.