Alberta Ferretti X Fida Worldwide

Open­ing illus­tra­tion by Joan­na Layla

With fash­ion weeks pre­dom­i­nant­ly show­ing in dig­i­tal form, what bet­ter time for the won­drous team at Fida to team up with Alber­ta Fer­ret­ti for a live draw­ing ses­sion for Autumn/Winter 2021. See the incred­i­ble col­lec­tion and inter­pre­ta­tions from a wide vari­ety of illus­tra­tors below.

The present time thrives on dichotomies and con­tra­dic­tions. It asks for reas­sur­ing ges­tures while incit­ing deci­sive actions. The new Alber­ta Fer­ret­ti col­lec­tion moves along this thin line. It is made of envelop­ing shapes, which embrace the body in the warmth of fuzzy, pro­tec­tive tex­tures; it skews angles, flow­ing in curves. Even car­ry­ing a bag means hug­ging it. A new min­i­mal­ism aris­es, ground­ed on plat­form boots with chunky glam heels; then, sud­den­ly, the dar­ing to sparkle explodes, with­out hes­i­ta­tion, into dreamy, night­ly escapism.

Clas­sic shapes in unex­pect­ed vol­umes sug­gest unex­pect­ed ways to wear sta­ple gar­ments. Coats edged in blan­ket stitch­ing are wide like pon­chos, or flu­id-like dress­ing gowns, and can be worn alone, or under stur­dy trench coats. Shoul­ders are marked. A ruf­fle peeks a boo from the turtle­neck col­lar of a ribbed sweater, like a small ruff, while long pleat­ed skirts open over soft trousers. A new vocab­u­lary is affirmed: sen­su­al­i­ty is not mea­sured with the inch­es of bare skin.

On the con­trary, there is plea­sure in cov­er­ing up, from the neck down to the ankles. Over­alls and fatigues alter­nate with sin­u­ous raw-cut dress­es, blousons and high-waist­ed slacks with shear­ling coats, den­im suits with tuxe­dos. The mem­o­ry of the arche­types is trans­fig­ured in the arti­sanal treat­ment of the sur­faces: lac­quer­ing and sequin embroi­dery that sug­gest pre­vi­ous uses; flock­ing and col­or dyes on den­im. The prag­mat­ic spir­it leaves the room, as the day pro­gress­es, to a feast of woven rib­bons, shine and trans­paren­cies. Boots, wide-brimmed hats, and soft bags punc­tu­ate the story.

Colours and mate­ri­als under­line this flu­id move­ment. Black, dense and severe, and gun­metal gray dis­solve into earthy tones of ochre, brown, beige, in touch­es of petrol green and olive, and then get back to the noc­tur­nal sparkle of non-col­or, illu­mi­nat­ed by sequins, lit by gold. As the flow pro­gress­es, fab­rics pass from dense felts, flan­nels and shear­ling wools, to leathers and suede, final­ly open­ing up to the soft­ness of silk and transparencies. 

The result is a har­mo­ny of con­trasts, a bal­ance of deci­sive or reas­sur­ing gestures.

- Alber­ta Ferretti

Alber­ta Fer­ret­ti Autumn/Winter 2021

Check out more from Alber­ta Fer­ret­ti:
albertaferretti.com
instagram.com/albertaferretti

Check out more from Fida Wordl­wide:
fidaworldwide.com
instagram.com/fidaworldwide