Collections —Woman / Prêt-à-Porter

“Each thing in its place: everything is just what it looks like. The coat is a real coat, the blue jacket is a real blue jacket, the pilot-coat is a real pilot-coat. No winking and conjuring. Attempts to hide, to transform, to disguise… For example, some trench coats, some coats, have the same basis as light spring coats. Only that they are reinforced to stand up to winter. Why not say it? Everything regains its original spirit, hidden behind elaborations, interpretations, second thoughts… Thus the style becomes more and more purified and clear, detoxicated… The white cardigan with cables comes back over a matching silk shirt and flannel pants. The checked coat, ample and loose, hides a black jacket, a spotted shirt in wine and brown… Classical? It is better to say well-established, without problems. Elegant because it is natural. For this reason I have remade, with great pleasure, the traditional party skirts: long and clinging, in black satin, or in pleated ultra-fine suede. Dedicating them to a woman who loves spending a lot of time at home, but as an important queen. So strong-minded, mature, rich in personality to have overcome the anxiety of parties, of receptions, with a presence cost what it may. An independent woman, strong enough to allow her tenderness to be sensed… I am thinking of Fanny Ardant, for example, or Katharine Hepburn. As certain unforgettable photographs have made them remembered.”

Gianfranco Ferré

The contrast. An unexpected flash of light in the full and opaque fabrics, with an elasticity permitting the elimination of linings: the quilted silk lapels on the coat, quilted satin for the pilot-coats with beaver linings. In the evening silver fringes for the sleeveless American-style (halter neck) sweaters: underneath champagne color marocain blazers.

The eclecticism. The soft double pullover which is a sham twin-set: it is worked in a single piece so that it will be so “softer.” The traffic-light red dress. Long and slim, very austere, even if there is that flash of a bare leg from the slit. The mirror-like “sheath”: flickering, luminous, dangerous: a slit up to the knee, a gold embroidered band inserted in the belt. The French-intellectual style evening dress: a long straight skirt, an interminable scarf round the neck or knotted very low, a jacket with loose pleats at the back. The coat, always long, in white marocain, or the house-robe coat in silk velvet, thirties-style, soft as a fur.

The coloring. The general impression of colors: brown (as black declined for the day) from pale café au lait to coffee and milk and to roasted coffee. Always dark or natural when leather or suede. Sugar and cream. Misty blue teamed with coal black or icy brown. A veil of cold vapor which chills the nuances. Silver, a touch of gold. The unexpected note of an incandescent red.

The clearness. A silhouette which is lengthened, fluid, dynamic. Shoulders prominent but spare, “lean.” A marked waist, slightly dropped, often emphasized by knotted house-robe belts. Decidedly long hems: four, five centimeters above the ankle, or decidedly knee-length: certain grey flannel skirts are formed with cuts which abolish the unaesthetic belt.

The gesture. That of closing, of covering oneself when chilly by turning up the collar lapels, pulling the fastening together. Everyday city gestures for town coats: the real Chesterfield with a little velvet collar; the suede bathrobe-coat with a honey color teddy collar; the Bogart style waterproof mac in blue cotton poplin with brown trim or in a classical white. Unusual gestures: knotting the lapels of the jackets, or letting them dangle casually on the inside. Like authentic scarves.

The reason. The essential simplicity of pieces and of formulas, so elementary as to be unpredictable: the windowpane check suit in light colors (dove grey, mud and fog white) with a white gilet and a super-soft georgette shirt. The ultralong flat gilet under a blazer. The mannish pants with cuffs, rounded on the hips and with a rather wide belt, at least five centimeters. The oversize nikis. The cardigans with big cables, in wool and silk, soft and loose.