When it comes to Milan Fashion Week, the vast majority tend to focus on the country’s big fashion houses and, consequently, forget about other younger brands that are doing just as well as them or even better. Ferrari could be a case in point, as the Fall/Winter 2024 proposal that its current creative director, Roco Iannone, recently presented was one of the most avant-garde of the last edition.
Being labelled in this way is not something that surprises the designer, as the same thing happened the previous season. Rocco is giving the industry and in particular the Italian industry, the fresh air it needs. What was shown on the catwalk may not be as commercial or wearable as the others seen, but it exudes fashion, and that’s what’s important.
Fabrics chosen for the garments – draped satin, ethereal and reflective organza with peach threads, froissé velvets with an iridescent feel, leather, and many more – were the key to achieving that adjective, with permission of the silhouettes and added volumes, which unfolded and expanded as soon as they moved. There is a saying that movement is shown by walking, and it fits perfectly here.
Twenty looks made up the menswear part of the new Ferrari line, each one more vibrant and sweeping than the last. All of them reflect on black, a dazzling colour that emerges from the liquid appearance of surfaces, mirroring and amplifying it in shades of silver, metallic and white, in its maximum refinement. There is no light without darkness. When one is not among it, Iannone proposes the most passionate, emotional, and desirous colour, red. Opposites attract, and from the darkest black goes to the brightest red, so much so that both fields are intertwined and explored together through the basics of the wardrobe, presenting them first in their structural hyper-definition, to dematerialise them later in the flow of lightness and softness.
A good collection, as is well known, is not only composed of basics to wear but also of tailoring. This is where archetypal fabrics such as flannel and worsted wool come into play, recalling the value of traditional craftsmanship by lending themselves to a substantial reinterpretation of the pattern. Blazers worn with flowing trousers come in sharp silhouettes, with accentuated shoulders and sculpted tapered sleeves, in the purest Italian style. Occasionally, their length is extended to become a coat, available in all kinds of fabrics.
In Ferrari FW24 everything is taken care of in detail, including accessories and footwear. The latter ranges from the classic handcrafted leather shoe to the metamorphosis of the sporty driving style shoe, becoming first a ballerina – in crinkled patent leather with a square toe – and then a ballerina slip-on, ankle boot, and cruissard boot. The same goes for accessories, especially bags, ranging from soft GT Bag silhouettes, in shearling, nappa leather, and quilted, to new structured models inspired by sixties travel boots.
Other iconic Ferrari styling components include couture gloves derived from the world of racing, slender and precious titanium eyewear, saddle leather-covered mask frames, and jewellery pieces moulded in organic shapes. Thus Rocco Iannone’s latest work comes to a close and shows just how transgressive and visionary he can be as a designer.
Check out the Ferrari Fall/Winter 2024 collection below:
