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Class and Sass at Gianfranco Ferre
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
MILAN, Mar 8, 2002/ FWD/ --- Sunday afternoon in Milan featured an assured and at times
elegant collection by Gianfranco Ferre that curiously contained echoes, both old and new,
of his former haunt, Christian Dior.
Staged, like all his shows, in Ferre's grand headquarters on via Pontaccio, the display
opened with twinkling New Age sounds as the models wafted along the shiny black catwalk.
The big hits in this show were the crisp wool pant suits composed of flared trousers and snug
jackets with pointy lapels -- they were reminiscent of Gianfranco's work at Dior, not least
because a fair few of them were in gray.
The look was also sexy, but in a classy way. Lace bodices peeked out from under men's shirts,
and open-necked semi-transparent dresses swept around the body, revealing just the right
amount.
Ferre has always loved bows, and they were all over this collection, finishing the necklines
of tunics or holding together snappily cut leather coats.
He did the same at Dior, though with large bows.
Uncannily, his small bows this season call to mind current Dior men's designer Hedi
Slimane's obsession with micro bows.
But to suggest that the collection was anchored in the past would be wrong.
Ferre's great talent as a tailor, fabric innovator and lover of the exotic made this a
clever, contemporary statement.
The collection could have done with a little more editing. While cute looking, it was
tricky to imagine many ladies wearing the padded beige wool jackets -- unless it is suddenly
chic to look a bit bloated.
This quibble aside, the collection had tons of class with a smidgen of sass, which meant
it worked.
Gianfranco Ferre
Gianfranco Ferre
Gianfranco Ferre
Gianfranco Ferre
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