Gianfranco Ferré inside the lens: an exhibition on the designer's universe at Forte di Bard

From Dec. 6, 2024 to March 9, 2025, the Fortress of Bard will host the Gianfranco Ferré Inside the Lens exhibition, curated by the Gianfranco Ferré Research Center of the Milan Polytechnic and CZ Fotografia. The exhibition celebrates the architect and fashion designer on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his birth, offering an unprecedented journey. The installation invites the public to discover the work of Gianfranco Ferré (Legnano, 1944 - Milan, 2007) through a selection of photographic images. Black-and-white, color and photocolor prints, slides and specimens are flanked by clothes, sketches and drawings, offering a comprehensive view of the designer’s creative universe. The heart of the narrative lies in the photographic section of the Gianfranco Ferré Historical Archive. Here one can admire more than 90 works, never exhibited before, created by eight masters of fashion photography who collaborated with Ferré on iconic advertising campaigns. These names include Gian Paolo Barbieri, Guy Bourdin, Michel Comte, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Bettina Rheims, and Herb Ritts.

The six rooms devoted to the photo gallery are inspired by the metaphor of the darkroom. Through specimens, photocolors, slides and shots annotated by the photographers, the visitor is guided through the process of image production. These spaces also reveal the designer’s creative process, articulated around six operating principles he frequently used: compose, reduce, emphasize, recalibrate, deconstruct, and excite. The exhibition route creates a continuous dialogue between Ferré’s style and the distinctive characteristics of the various photographers. We move from the compositional rigor of Barbieri, to the essential rapidity of Comte; from the chiaroscuro games of Lindbergh, to the intensity of Rheims’ portraits; from the eccentric framing of Bourdin, to the studied naturalness of Demarchelier; from the graphic classicism of Ritts, to the complexity of Meisel, capable of revealing a critical look at contemporaneity. The exhibition, structured in a multidisciplinary and non-chronological way, also includes virtual and augmented reality experiences developed by the Research Center, capable of offering a well-rounded view of Gianfranco Ferré’s work.

“The designer must not only know clearly what he wants, but also choose the right interlocutor, the one who will give body, color, light and magic to his idea. He must communicate with the photographer, establish a complicity, give him autonomy, but with the certainty that he can recognize himself in the image created. It is a question of feeling, of understanding. Of course, experience and professionalism play an important part; but without the ability to create together, to share emotions, to make the eye and the soul work together, photography will be empty, cold, useless and false,” argued Gianfranco Ferré in Lettres à un jeune couturier.

Notes on the artist

Gianfranco Ferré was born in Legnano on August 15, 1944. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, where he graduated in 1969. His debut in the fashion world took place during this period: Ferré designed jewelry and accessories, noticed almost by chance by some fashion editors. In 1973 Gianfranco Ferré embarks on his first trip to India, where, on behalf of an Italian company he designs and has produced on site a clothing line, the Ketch collection. At the same time he began a series of stylistic consultancies with various clothing companies. Dated 1974, the first ready-to-wear collections and the first fashion shows: Les Grenouilles, Courlande and Baila. May 1978 saw the founding of the Gianfranco Ferré company and in October of that year the first women’s ready-to-wear fashion show. The launch of menswear in 1982 and the creation of accessories and products made under license were then followed by the experience of haute couture, with fashion shows in Rome from 1986 to 1989. In 1983 he participated in the birth of Domus Academy, a post-graduate school of Design, where, until 1989, he directed the course Design dell’abito. In May 1989 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Maison Christian Dior for the women’s Haute Couture, Prêt-à-Porter and Fourrure lines. Appointment that will last until 1996. In March 2007, Gianfranco Ferré is appointed president of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Gianfranco Ferré passes away on June 17, 2007.

Gianfranco Ferré inside the lens: an exhibition on the designer's universe at Forte di Bard

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