Ferré's Lexicon

Among the strategic objectives of the Gianfranco Ferré Research Centre is the promotion of cultural and educational initiatives grounded in the activation of the historical archive. The aim is to engage students and researchers in the experimentation of advanced techniques of visualisation, representation, and access to artefacts of high cultural value, in order to develop new models for accessing, interpreting, and enhancing Ferré’s legacy.

Within this framework, the project “Lessico Ferré” – developed in collaboration with the Laboratory of Fundamentals of Fashion Design of the Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Design at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano – seeks to investigate, decode, and transmit Gianfranco Ferré’s design language to new generations of designers.

Starting from the study of archival white shirts – formal archetypes and a symbol of Gianfranco Ferré’s design thinking – students were engaged in a process of research and reinterpretation of the designer’s aesthetic and constructive codes. Each shirt was the subject of in-depth analysis, conducted both on the original archival garment and on the extensive documentary material made available by the Gianfranco Ferré Research Centre: technical drawings, runway exit drawings, runway and advertising campaign photographs, as well as immersive 360° photography of the garment itself.

Through an understanding of the “Lessico Ferré”, each group of students reinterpreted and redesigned the designer’s aesthetic and constructive codes, translating structural logics, volumetric compositions, and sartorial details into new contemporary proposals starting from the base model of the Polishirt. This design approach, grounded in the synergy between archival research and pattern-making experimentation, fostered the acquisition of design skills in garment construction, leading to the creation of original prototypes that remain consistent with Ferré’s design vision.

Now in its third edition and presented annually on the occasion of Apritimoda, the project is configured as an exercise in design transposition and archival enhancement, capable of connecting the master’s legacy with educational contexts and the creative practices of contemporary design.