Collections —Man / Prêt-à-Porter

“As always when I begin to work out how to do a collection I gear my thinking to a particular exigency: award the design element an ever stronger justification and pinpoint the value of the product. Especially in regard to the male universe, recently in a major state of flux. For starters, today men approach others in a way that expresses a full maturity, a greater self-confidence, a rational awareness of the body not only as a natural fact but also as mental certitude and cultural choice. From here arises a subtle urge for uniqueness and individuality. For transgression, understood as a rereading – beyond any standard – of what is past and normal, of what has distinct meaning and prospect of use. It’s an urge that also involves traces of snobbery and narcissism, emotions deep within man which now, I believe, translate into clothes that have surpassed any seasonal context to meet the basic need of protection against heat or cold, to capture an ever more emphatic sense of lightness…”

Gianfranco Ferré

Impressions of a journey around a wardrobe…

The full texture and lightness of a summer duster in linen tweed, to wear over white pants or a torn pair possibly from two seasons ago. Some extralight gray suits: a mere 200 grams in weight, bordering on a foulard, sharp and nervous, with camel-hair supports inside instead of the usual shoulder pads. The sensuality of a sportjacket slimmer of line, round of shoulder… and of city sportswear in fabrics in male drapery patterns or in ostrich doubled in the softest, supplest of leathers. The new insubstantiality of quasi-sheer white byssus shirts, of airy linens and light loose-weave oxford cloths to mix with grisailles. The charm of linen/cashmere cardigans to don over shirts, of the work-jacket paired wisely with shirt and tie, of the equipped sportjacket finished by hand, of the soft pants in vaguely used mode. The determinant presence of the white shirt, of the one with zones of stripes, of the one in embroidered raw cloth. The outré appeal of colorful 1920s boxer robes with terry linings… of flashy, virile python and anaconda, too. The signs of a flight toward far off lands, eastward bound: double organza sportjackets semi-collarless; otherwise in a mandarin style, with embroideries and worn over dark blue pants instead of a spencer. Dark blue again, in triple satin, for the pants to sport with cord belt and bare chest. Kimono-comfortable jeans in silk. Sturdy shoes with marked toes and asymmetric sole, designed on the basis of Japanese footwear to make for a springy step. The extraordinary refinement of accessories, in glossy calfskin doubled with thick hide. The utter dandyism of shoes, slippers, belts in galoucha or velvet…

… a personal, instinctive aim to create, piece by piece, a silhouette in no way preconstructed.