Gianfranco Ferré. Under another light: jewels and ornaments

From October 12, 2017, to February 19, 2018, the stately Hall of the Senate of Palazzo Madama in Turin will set the stage for the exhibition Gianfranco Ferré. Under Another Light: Jewels and Ornaments. Organized and produced jointly by the Gianfranco Ferré Foundation and the Turin Museums Foundation, the exhibition will present a world premiere of 200 jewel objects that cut across the entire creative narrative of the famous Italian fashion designer.
Ferré always had a passion for ornamentation - a passion inseparably linked to his fashion collections and significantly determined by an enthusiastic and often innovative approach never inferior to the one he took in designing clothes. As Francesca Alfano Miglietti, curator of the exhibition, underscores: “Ferré constructs a free zone within a personal realm of reference, elaborating every object in the wake of a system of general classification of concepts that become objects. And so we see lustrous stones, enameled metals, smooth shells, painted woods, Murano glasses, retro ceramics, Swarovski crystals, as well as wood and leather and iron and copper and bronze, follow one another along an enchanted horizon of pins, necklaces, belts, rings, bracelets, bangles. For Ferré the ornament is not the ‘lesser child’ of a precious jewel, but a concept of eternity that must represent the immanence of the present.”
The objects on display, created for fashion shows dating from 1980 to 2007, tell a story that is complementary to the clothing and relative accessories. Yet they are exhibited together with designs where it is precisely the jewel-material that invents and shapes the dress, becoming its substance and soul. In this case too, Gianfranco Ferré’s attention to materials is determinant, an essential part of his research.
The exhibition project - ideated by architect Franco Raggi - plays upon the contrast between the Hall of the Senate of Palazzo Madama, a place of immense architectural value, and the simple minimalist structures in iron and glass of the exhibition set-up. Thus highlighted is the imaginative beauty of the jewels designed by Ferré, which seem to soar in the semi-darkness. 

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