Milan Men’s F/W 08 – GIANFRANCO FERRE

For his first collection at the House of Ferre, Lars Nilsson presents something new and something old. Opting for a small show space to the big runway to make his homage to the late designer, impressions of the end result were mixed. Nilsson is seasoned player in the game of stepping in for needy fashion house. This season Nilsson plays with a lot of classic Ferre looks and pairs them with some modern day necessities. Like the classic Windsor check blazer paired with a pair of tight leather bike pants. Nilsson mixed looks with full leg and skinny leg pants. One of the big misses is some of the tailoring in the collection. The master was a legend in tailoring and modern tailoring was his signature. This season Nilsson lacked any modern tailoring through out the collection. One example is the double breasted jackets with lapel cut too short pulling the fabric when buttoned. This occurred both on the model and the mannequin. The collection overall did not cry Gianfranco Ferre, too many classic suits that Ferre would never have designed.

Update: I wrote this post about two weeks ago and the news on Friday, February 8th is that designer Lars Nilsson is stepping down from Ferre. I was rather kind in this review of the collection as I hate to be all negative. To be honest, I am not a big Nilsson fan, the man has connections but he’s really staff or team designer not an actual designer per-say. He butchered Bill Blass, Rochas and now Ferre. When is everyone going to get a clue. Sorry Lars!