subject: The Parade Started With A Flourish [print this page] Gianfranco Ferre's message was pure white with a touch of gray and black, in a spandex zentai show that was the embodiment of a new strategy that focuses on the name "Ferre" and gives equal billing to couture, medium-priced lines and sportswear. The resulting show was clean, fresh and coherent. Drama appeared only for embroidered and crumpled silk evening jackets in oriental greens. Otherwise mauve, with blood orange leather zentai suit , were the only challenges to a neutral palette. Playing with textures and tones of white, the parade started with a flourish: a white alligator jacket, followed by ostrich. White cotton pants were played off against parchment gauzy knits, or arcs of black traced the fitted silhouette of spider man costume a sportier jacket. An "F" buckle on wide belt was a new logo. Ferre's shiny suits in metallic grays still look destined for shady people in sunny Mediterranean places. But this was a show that got to the architectural essence of Ferre, with only one peacock gesture: a grand beach robe. Color vivid primary shades was the surprise element at Bottega Veneta, where even the classic vintage leather travel bags had stripes of yellow, green, red and blue round the girth. The same webbing strap came as belts, with their snazzy colors spider costume picked out for ties and handkerchiefs. Even the blunt-toed zentai suit came in four shades of antiqued leather.
