Dream on. Backstage before showing her Limited Edition collection at her brand’s grandly romantic Paris headquarters on the Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Alberta Ferretti noted that singular inspiration. “I always start from dreaming,” she said. “What’s interesting is when the dream becomes the reality.”
In today’s fashion, there’s no better place to realize that dream-reality fusion than on the major event circuit, whether the celebrity red carpet or the noncelebrity mega event for which a certain genre of well-heeled woman dresses to the nines. That’s what Ferretti’s Limited Edition is all about — servicing the big event, not with literal couture, but with special dresses that incorporate elements of couture’s handworked ethos. While the designer’s work is steeped in her romantic aesthetic, here, she stretched it in numerous directions. This collection was rooted deeply in the concept of client choice, so much so that at times it felt disjointed, as if Ferretti were trying to say too much. Silhouettes swung wildly: short, racy cocktail shakers (one swung tribal; another, with a soupçon of Vegas); Thirties-esque languid chemises; grand-dame ballgowns; Elizabethan heroine gems. It was a lot to take in, particularly since, from the close proximity the venue’s salons provided, some of the more elaborate dresses didn’t have the impact they might have had from greater distance. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of beauty on display.
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Ferretti did seek to unify her abundant outpouring with an undersea motif. She thus took the plunge to a world of mystery, beauty and a whole lot going on. Embroideries were intricate, lush, and often boldly 3-D, shells and swirls that looked like found treasures straight for the ocean’s floor. A major subtheme: movement, taking its cue from the motion of the waves, as well as that of the flora and fauna that populate the deep. Fringe was omnipresent from the start — a group of five white dresses, each utterly distinct in kinetic charm. A loosely fitted riff on a tank dress looked particularly alluring. The movement continued in intricately wrought fabrics including a giant scalloped treatment and an abstract pattern in multiple shades of blue that brought sea anemones to mind. It mesmerized.