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Cerruti: Cerruti Goes Back to Its Roots
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos courtesy of Cerruti-FWD
Milan, Jun 27, 2002/FWD/ --- Rediscovering a brand’s roots is often such a cliché, and such
a lie, that one hesitates to use it about any new designer at a fashion house.
But it’s exactly what Istvan Francer has done in his first collection for Cerruti.
Francer took his task literally by creating a collection that is very much Cerruti, yet it
retained enough of his own personality to mark an exciting new development in the
distinguished Italian house.
His plans were aided when an assistant stumbled upon a Cerruti men’s suit from the house’s
golden period several decades ago, which the design team deconstructed and used as a starting
point for re-launching the line.
"I wanted to go back to the roots, and then push things forward a little. The 1960s suits
we found in the London antique shop was the starting point, but only that," Francer, who
previously designed Donna Karan’s men’s collection for eight years, told FWD at a simple
presentation in 1920s office building in Milan.
Nonetheless, Francer has definitely added his own point of view.
The silhouette is slimmer and more modern, the armpits are noticeably higher and the finish
is more detailed – all cuff buttonholes are functional, and shirt shoulders are hand-stitched.
The fabrics, nearly all of them of natural threads, are also pretty special, with everything
from a moleskin/cashmere blend redingote to a brilliant trench coat made of two different
colored yarns to give a cool sheen.
Other standouts included superb 150-thread-count stripy shirts and beautiful seersucker
suits in cream and white.
"That thing of making seersucker in red or blue and white stripes is so old," grimaced the
Hungarian-born Francer.
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