Ferrari went all out to stage its first show in Milan, setting up what could arguably be one of the longest catwalks ever inside a huge pavilion at Fiera Milano City, where the red and yellow lighting effects were conceived to recreate the luxury brand’s storied assembly line in Maranello. It was impressive, as was the collection.
Chairman John Elkann’s aim is to place Ferrari’s apparel in the uber-luxury range to reflect the brand’s own positioning, staying away from clever merchandising and logoed caps. With his second collection for the brand, Rocco Iannone succeeded in achieving this goal, presenting sophisticated couture-like cuts and tailoring techniques blended with technological innovations, which may have been less visible from afar but certainly make a difference for a Ferrari customer. Case in point: a white cashmere coat with contoured shoulders defined by meticulous stitching and flat-felled seams. The logo was not entirely absent from the coed lineup and popped up on a black hoodie, for example, but it was generally cleverly disguised in the lettering on a leather puffer jacket, or a series of yellow loop sweaters and little black dresses.
Not surprisingly, speed was the starting point for Iannone, as was the Futuristic movement, embodied by a camouflage print obtained by breaking down the silhouette of Ferrari’s signature prancing horse, its parts enlarged and colored in bright red, blue and black combinations.
Other graphic prints derived from thermal scanner grids, while an abstract motif was created from a hologram of the logo and an enlarged photo of technical filaments. A jacquard jacket made of fibers derived from recycled plastic bottles and woven with “glow in the dark” yarns was eye-catching.
Pencil shape skirts came with adjustable metal zippered slits or flared out at the hem. Zip details added edge to coats in leather or shearling. Cargo trousers were coated with black crystals while suits and jackets in carbon fiber, as well as iridescent looking tailored suits in metallic fabrics, added glitter to the runway.
“There is cross-pollination in tailoring, which is no longer the classic tailoring of yore. Traditional labeling is over,” said Iannone, who showed jackets worn over drill cotton cargo jogger pants.
Elkann said before the show that Sunday would be cause for a double celebration, since it was also Iannone’s birthday. To be sure, the show was a good way to mark the day.