The first look out on the Ferrari runway, a sleek leather coat grazing the knees in a nude color, telegraphed creative director Rocco Iannone’s focus on skin for his fall collection, his tenth at the Italian brand.
“Skin is the membrane that connects us to the world, it is our way of touching and being touched,” said the designer backstage. “We are losing the sense of touch to video images, but I want to transfer emotions through touch.”
Indeed, the following pantsuit and strapless column dress in supple leather in the nude palette longed to be touched, but then Iannone moved into another silhouette, draped around the body, hugging every curve and in creamy shades.
“These are almost couture-like as they were actually manually built around the models, designed to enhance their bodies,” he explained of the use of second-skin, feather-light jersey, duchesse, also padded, and fabrics employed in innerwear. They looked terrific, not constraining but sensual.
He said he had also been thinking more about body language as he revealed he had designed costumes for the theater for the first time, debuting on March 17 at Rome’s Opera Theater with “I Feel the Earth Move,” a ballet choreographed by Benjamin Millepied.
Standing in front of a mood board with a few images of perfectly sculptured bodies, asked if the concept of nude to him meant sexy, he said he didn’t like that word. “I prefer eroticism, the path, not the final destination. Things must be discovered, as the creative process. There is always a language of the body in design – the volumes, the lines, the surfaces.”
Iannone juxtaposed this part of the collection with sturdier leather jackets and coats that were treated to look more coriaceous, like a turtle shell, and dry wool suits – all in darker colors, from moss green to brown and black.
Knits with quills painted by hand had a 3D surface, or showed motifs that imitated scarifications, creating a play of solids and voids.
In a striking dress, Ferrari’s signature red appeared as brush strokes alternated with black and the research into the fabric was unquestionable, with threads that seemed to run through the delicate veil.
With Alicia Keys and Becky G in the audience, the closing sparkling evening gowns winked to the entertainment industry as Ferrari continues to build its lifestyle proposition. “Luxury to me means research and we have to continue to raise the design and craftsmanship,” said Iannone. Mission accomplished.
