Gianfranco Ferré
MILAN, September 29, 2002
By
Gianfranco Ferré is a serious designer who cares about "old-school" ideas like cool elegance and perfect tailoring. In a season full of giddy, color-saturated fashion seemingly inspired by animé characters, his collection stood out for its restrained, mature focus.Ferré kept his color palette subdued (chocolate brown, tobacco, charcoal and ivory with judiciously placed blasts of yellow and scarlet) and his silhouettes fairly traditional. Skirts came near the knee, trousers were fluid and jackets cut loose, but not gigantic. In a nod to current trends, the designer showed a lemon-yellow bomber jacket, a few cargo pockets and plenty of chiffon. But Ferré’s own innovation comes via cut and proportion; he can make a fitted jacket look fresh just by tweaking the collar-span-to-waistline ratio. A longtime admirer of Japanese technique, he also worked Asian motifs like block prints, narrow-cut kimono sleeves slashed to expose the arms, obi-wrapped midriffs and asymmetrical cuts into the line.
Not everything was about cool intellect, though; there were skimpy lingerie dresses, whispery sheer blouses slipping off shoulders and loose silk jackets swinging open to flash some skin. And a group of liquid silk charmeuse dresses finished off the show with a blast of heat that sent the mercury skyrocketing.
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