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133

Collections —Woman / Accessories

Fall / Winter — 1996

Press Release

Prêt-à-porter Collection

“The challenge facing a woman who dresses today lies in reconciling different needs, fluctuating moods, diverse inclinations and many apparently contrasting desires and ideas. All this ultimately stems from a vibrant awareness of her femininity as well as an understanding of clothes as powerful tool to enhance and modify one’s figure. It should also entail an earnest wish for comfort and practicality and an appreciation for life’s precious moments, intimate, low-key, private… Determined to bypass those technicalities which render the principle of simplicity as only dull and unappealing, I sought to translate and rewrite these demands. By blending ease with grace, freedom with rigor, I countered a silhouette of maximum comfort, obtained with stretch fabrics, accenting shoulders and hips. I balanced it with an innovative concept of body-sculpting lingerie… absolutely independent and not needing to be disguised. In offering different solutions, again to suit personal preferences, women are allowed to choose pants one day and shorter skirts for other occasions… only a few exceptions…”.

Gianfranco Ferré

An image: slender legs moving nimbly under boxy coats, longer jackets of sorts with quilted lining or shearling sections for extra warmth and padding. Also, full-length coats with goose-down filling to brave rigid temperatures and white knit duffel coats for rolling in the snow.

Longer jackets, straight and squarish, with a hint of a skirt barely showing or perhaps worn over a stretch bodysuit.

Flash on legs: impeccably well dressed in simple tights, highlighted by snug boots or shoes at once smartly sturdy and supremely feminine.

An open approach to shirts: taking on new body and weight, at times becoming a jacket in tight-textured coat fabrics, both body-hugging and maintaining fullness.

Contained, close-fitting lines as given by strategic cutting: trousers cut on the bias to remain slim rather than tight. Structured lingerie, for a lighter and suppler figure, worn as all-in-one item, culotte-and-bra in a comfortable, washable gray tricot. Or hiding under a pullover as a rigid little corset.

Almost a uniform, chosen in a way deliberate and discreet: the men’s suit in the most mannish fabrics and the most conservative grays, warmly subdued by a rich double weave silk coat in anemone and tango hues.

Standard shapes get radical with the little dress presented with a flannel-and-gazar combination shirt. Also the clergyman-style raincoat discovers the luxury of a pale peach colored wool/nylon blend and the simplest of skirts falls in fine pleating for a subtly elegant column effect.

Flights of femininity and grace allow a playing with stretch fabrics (soft or stiff). Mysterious alchemies lace a netting with golden beads, glossy pearls and black crystals for a fabulous tweed sensation. Full-textured wools (for pants) and impalpable silks (for the T-shirt) are treated with special photographic-print effects to appear of the same consistency. Sportswear expresses utter refinement in silk duchesse with cashmere lining. And in fashioning exquisitely harmonious evening skirts pure rectangles take compelling shape on stretch jersey/wool bodysuits.

Peace and quiet in the use of color: dark blue, gray, camel, pearly shades of peach, gold and ice. Uniform red for little jackets mixing different materials and shades of scarlet.