Collections —Woman / Prêt-à-Porter
Fall / Winter — 1993
Press Release
“A happy sense of reason… or perhaps a transfiguration of reality, pleasure in feeling comfortable, energy arising from equilibrium and ease… For this different woman with a desire for beauty but not escape, for smooth living yet free of exoticism and abandon, I created a new silhouette, long and fluid, sublimely slim of shoulder… all as quick as a pencil sketch… A silhouette bonding color to form, following the principle that every object naturally has its own nuance: thus the coat resembling a caftan is white, the coat functional of concept is beige, the velvet circular model is navy blue… Forms elementary, thus intrinsically forceful, set off by the accessories in a pure, essential way… Imagining and designing real situations, concrete occasions of everyday life, I came to realize that I instinctively moved in the direction of white and red, coats, the mannish suit, decoration, fantasy… The Ferré lexicon, ever my steadfast expressive alphabet…”
Gianfranco Ferré
Red. A decisive brushstroke, a strong vibration, a sharp impulse. Red for the pants in a jeans cut and for the satin parka over a soft pullover in lightweight nappa leather and single-ribbing knit.
Trench. Elegantly in ivory, ever true to tradition. Either casually short or smoothly ankle-length. In dry fabrics for a sure, sharp line: canneté (gros grain), cotton poplin, gabardine, duchesse. Always cinched in the waist, whether worn over a suit or a white T-shirt.
Manstyle. In the continual intersecting of masculine and feminine, the suit switches proportions and emerges forcefully with a jacket either very long or very short. Set off then only by hose or soft flat boots. Grisailles, tweeds, typically mannish fabrics in gray, iron and asphalt shades. With pants and pullovers featuring the essential flash of a white cuff.
Dresses. A brushstroke always in black, a long firm line in ink. From the slits opening on hips come skirts and pants, a shawl drapes on shoulders at times.
Quilting. The lightness and warmth of a technical padding. For wearing with a simple set of buttons. Meanwhile, cabans and dusters can fold up and fit in a sack.
Coat. Slim stems, upside-down corollas, flarings. Evident here is the play of silhouettes marking the whole collection… Coats in froissé velvet and in cashmere, white plissé coats reminiscent of certain military uniforms. Ribbing in back. Turquoise, peacock blue and purple caftans. Velvet borders in navy or green for defining the line.
White Shirts. Cloudlike shirts. Soft rectangular taffeta or organza jackets with puff sleeves. Pants or skirt in finely pleated or ribbed velvet for designing a slim mobile figure.
Precious Notes. A magical platinum, luxurious wizardry. In the jacquard tweed a lamé thread adds an intermittent low-frequency sparkle.
Jeans. In a stretch material creating a crushed effect, in Louis XVII colors: turquoise, green, emerald. On top, pullover in an ultrasoft and unlined mink.
Gold. Copper and gold, rather opaque and dusty of effect, sporty of taste, melted and poured on the leather blouson lined in warm fur.
Eveningwear. A fantastic play of transparencies, shadow sensations, a sudden vanishing of the fabric in a tulle net. The severe uniform smoking jacket becomes fluid and disappears… leaving collar, sleeves, parts of the back… then go the sleeves and a border on the front…
Fantasy. From the creator of the “Power Swimsuit” come clothes with details in opaque tulle, no transparency due to the effects of overlapping. Leather inserts reproducing anatomical parts, transformed into cartouches and dipped in pure gold. A mythological evocation à la Ferdinand Knopf, a cross between Minerva and a woman-warrior. The mighty impact of a statue covered in metal and suspended on mysterious marbled mirrors.