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Ferre -- Is This As Luxe As It Gets?
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
MILAN, Jan 17, 2003 /FWD/ --- The house of Gianfranco Ferre has lost a little more than
the 30 kilos its namesake designer has dropped in the past three months.
The monarchical men's collection he showed Wednesday shed much of the languor that
had been evident in previous seasons at his house.
"I gave up chocolate, Coca-Cola and cake," Ferre told reporters backstage, as he showed
off the exceptional detailing and heady quality of items in his show.
Valentino is probably the only other Italian designer that can match Ferre in the quality
of fabrics and materials, but Gianfranco tends to take opulence a little further, with his
remarkable craftsmanship and aggressive fabric innovation.
Tweed coats lined with zibeline, melton wool redingotes with Russian sable, and patchwork
leather lined with shaved rabbit typified the fall/winter 2003 collection.
Grabbing a hold of a raccoon-lined trench coat, whose exterior skin was made to look like
battered metal, and a chalk-stripe, double-breasted suit lined in dark brown mink, Ferre
proudly whispered, "Now that's what I call luxury."
Although Ferre pants kept with this season's big baggy trend, everything else in
Gianfranco's collection went against all other designer inspirations.
Where his rivals shrunk their jackets and cut them above the hip, the shoulders of
Gianfranco's suits would require a linebacker to fill them.
And with talk of Iraq dominating the newspapers, it is no surprise that the clothes
in many of the men's shows have been crammed with military looks.
But not Ferre's, whose collection was designed for elegant patricians in mind.
For outerwear, Ferre presented their most streamlined collection to date just as his
colleagues added more pounds for their padded, baggy coats, appropriate for the chilly
Alpine wind blowing through Milan this season.
Ferre sold control of his house last year to the energetic Italian fashion conglomerate
IT Holding, and judging by today's show, the deal looks like it makes a lot of sense.
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