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Italian Fashion Designer Gianfranco Ferre Dies |
 Gianfranco Ferre, the Italian designer known as the “architect of fashion” for his signature sculpted silhouettes, died on Sunday. The 62-year-old designer was taken to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Friday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.
Gianfranco Ferre, whose celebrity clients included Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone, Oprah Winfrey, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana, originally worked as a jewellery and accessories designer, before launching his ready-to-wear label in 1978. From 1989 Ferre was artistic director at French fashion house Christian Dior. In 1996 the designer returned to Milan and designed his own men’s and women’s collections. In 2000 Gianfranco Ferré and his business partner Franco Mattioli sold 90 percent of the company to Gruppo Tonino Perna, the parent of Italian fashion group IT Holding, but the designer stayed on as creative director.
“A civil man. The image that comes to my mind when thinking of Gianfranco Ferre: A man of dignity and calm with a sense of responsibility which always accompanied him,” said Giorgio Armani. “I always observed his work and particularly admired him for his coherence and the intellectualism and artistry upon which he based his fashion philosophy until the end,” he added.
“He was a gentleman of another time. He was a great courtier that knew how to create absolute chic with details that I’ll never tire of looking at and that will remain a part of the history of fashion,” Donatella Versace told WWD about Gianfranco Ferre.
Gianfranco Ferre was due to present his spring/summer 2008 menswear collection on June 24 as part of Milan’s ready-to-wear menswear fashion shows.
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