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Gianfranco Ferré: Party in Jodhpur Palace
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
Milan, Sep 30, 2001/ FWD/ --- Gianfranco Ferré this Sunday took one of his world tours, and his
starting place was India. As guests took their seats, a lady from the sub-continent played the sitar,
perched on a bed of huge cushions that seemed to float in front of the giant mirror wall that was the
backdrop of Ferré’s in-house catwalk.
The spring 2002 collection opened all in white with some pretty yet somewhat hard to comprehend long coats
that morphed into jodhpurs buttoned tight around the ankles.
But after the initial Indian theme, the collection suddenly leapt over to Africa and then into outer space.
Super heroines cruised about in sheer body stockings covered with metal sequins like some sort of futuristic
chain mail; Star Wars aristocrats surfaced in flared black leather minis riddled with rivets.
Occasionally the mood shifted, with wonderful hippie patchwork trousers of ornate gold embroideries, or
slinky harem pants splattered with silver bangles.
Ferré is Italian fashion’s great craftsman, whose wealth of experience designing haute couture for
Christian Dior gives him a fashion expertise few can match. But this also leads to a little too much excess.
For Ferré, too much is never enough.
His strength is that despite all the excess, there are some great clothes in all his shows. On Sunday
these were the fabulously cut broad-shouldered coats, tight stretch tops with tattoo designs and jacquard
jeans embroidered with silver. There’s plenty of magic at Ferre, it’s just hard to separate it from the
many ideas and themes that compose his shows.
Gianfranco Ferré
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