Collections —Woman / Prêt-à-Porter

Musical images, rhythmical colors and shapes…

“There’s a sense of the classic, yet with flair for risk and fast pace. There’s the definition of a new opulence, in the form not of lavish embroideries but of contrast between daring materials, sublimation of techno ones. There’s a deliberate mix of masculine and feminine in dazzling rebel mode, for me reminiscent of the golden days of rock (David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop) and the great tradition of British dress: tailcoats, dinner jackets, postilion coats headily rethought here in shiny fabrics, strange materials, contradictory cloths…

Even my new suit – a term per se bordering on the passé – springs from this urge for transformation, thus becomes a succinct bolero; underneath, some sweet shirt or white blouse with precious lace-bustier clinching it. Pants are skintight, otherwise do a new take on knickerbockers with drawstring ankle. Shirts resemble biker jackets, pullovers come short at the wrist, jackets have saddle shoulders and jambon sleeves to heighten the femininity factor. Widewale corduroy, soft and thick, makes for a corset à la moutard: with quilted lapin padding, outer streamline support and sumptuous lynx decor…

I put immaculate and speckled lynx trim also on camelhair coats concealing behind the classic aplomb a wild spirit, offering a glimpse of studded pants with every step. I lined the redingote with soft padded raw-edge black leather, otherwise in a sheared zebra-print pony picking up on the optical effect of pants. I hugged the body lusciously with a faux-leopard trench, another in arctic pony with monkey finish…

While designing, I realized that certain shapes, a certain drape, a light fluttering of taffeta hinted at a flawless elegance, assuming in some way the classic essence of the same. So over the pleated skirt there’s an organza redingote, in stunning alternative to the A-line double overcoat: with black paillette border. A luxurious eccentricity comes through also in the clothes apparently of more traditional origin. This is why I treated severe flannel as if denim, contradicting it with linings, edgings, trompe-l’oeil pockets in gorgeous silver fox. I turned jeans into magical instances of tartan brocade, skirts into soft sheaths of mohair. The sense of eccentricity explodes finally in the plastified-tweed jackets with sprinkling of iridescent crystals and in the silver brocade coats with metallic embroideries à la Ziggy Stardust…

For evening – light, frothy, ethereal – I created dresses with tails perfectly natural. Layer upon layer of weightlessness. Skirts mere segments of chiffon. Bouquet tops a cluster of organza hankies. Faux monkeyskin inserts a cross between lapin and kidassia. Plays of black and gray, traces of fuchsia, historic sign of nobility. Energizing mixes with leather, studs, satin or fustian stretch cuissard boots almost bonding with the dress, capturing the ultimate leggy look…”

Gianfranco Ferré